Bilateral aplasia of the anterior cerebral artery in the presence of its vascular source: a case report

Purpose Our goal was to investigate the cases of bilateral aplasia of the anterior cerebral artery (ACA). Methods The macro- and microdissection of the target human brain arteries of 388 cadaveric cases was applied under the magnifying glass. Each case was photographed and diagrammatically represented in the workbook. The length and the outer diameter of the corresponding arteries on the photos were measured using a computer software program. Results There was only one case (1/388 or 0.25%) of bilateral ACA aplasia that belonged to a male adult cadaver. Except for the variations of the posterior communicating artery on one side and the basilar artery, the instance of cerebral pathology was not recorded in this case. We compared the recent case with available literature cases. Conclusion Summarizing small number of literature cases, the recent case of bilateral ACA aplasia as the fifth case discovered so far, represents a true morphological rarity.