Clinical significance of carotid-basilar anastomosis with special reference to the primitive trigeminal artery

Despite the still widespread opinion that carotido-basilary anastomosis is exclusively a coincidental finding during angiography or autopsy, reports on the significance of this vascular anomaly in connection with a variety of cerebral symptoms and illnesses have appeared in recent years. These are substantiated by our own observation as an A. primitiva trigemina in connection with brain-organic disturbances in a female patient aged 25 years. In this case it was accompanied by seizures and hemiparesis, the severe neurological deficiencies accompanying the seizures showing a remarkable reversibility.