Variation of the External Ocular Muscular Artery

ABSTRACT

The muscular branches of the ophthalmic artery have been described as the superior muscular artery and the inferior muscular artery. However, the definition of the muscluar arteries and their distribution has not been clarified. Therefore, the muscular branches of the ophthalmic artery in 80 orbits of Korean adults were observed under the surgical microscope. The inferior muscular artery was observed in 87.5% of the materials and the superior muscular artery was observed in 32.5%. The commen muscular branch distributing to the adjacent two muscles was observed more frequently(81.3%). The superior muscular artery and the common muscular branches were similar in their distribution according to their site of origin. Therefore, they were classified into the superolateral and superomedial arteries. The superolateral muscular artery was observed in 58.6%. and the superomedial muscular artery was observed in 71.3%. This study suggests that the ocular muscular arteries are better classified into 3 groups, namely inferior, superolateral, and superomedial muscular arteries.