A 22-year-old man is struck on the side of the head by a cricket ball over the thin area of the temporal bone where four bones meet. CT shows a lens-shaped (biconvex) collection compressing the underlying brain. Which artery was most likely torn?

• A Superficial temporal artery
• B Maxillary artery, pterygoid segment
• C Anterior ethmoidal artery
• D Middle meningeal artery ✓

Explanation

The pterion is the thinnest part of the skull vault, formed by the junction of frontal, parietal, temporal and sphenoid bones. The middle meningeal artery, a branch of the maxillary artery, runs in grooves on the inner table directly beneath the pterion, so trauma here tears it and produces an extradural haematoma with the classic biconvex shape. The superficial temporal artery lies outside the skull, so it cannot produce an intracranial collection.

Reference: Snell's Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.