Mapping of the superficial temporal artery and branches according to certain anatomical landmarks

The superficial temporal artery and terminal branches of this artery are important for many clinical conditions such as craniofacial reconstructive surgery, bypass surgery, aesthetic procedures such as volumization of temporal region, rhytidectomy and botox applications. Their depths as well as their courses should be known to prevent complications. The aim of this study was to determine the anatomy of the superficial temporal artery and its terminal branches, according to certain reference points and to identify possible variations. Head and neck CT angiograms of 209 individuals were evaluated in this study. Tragus, zygomatic arch, angle of the zygomatic processes, marginal tubercle, supraorbital and infraorbital margin which are clinically relevant were selected as reference points that were easy to identify. All 418 sides of 209 individuals 363 (86.84%) had parietal branch. The frontal branch was absent only in 3 sides. The parietal branch were found to course mostly posterosuperior with an average angle of 23.31°±10.49°, while the frontal branch were found to course anterosuperior with an average angle of 45.51°±13.03° with respect to the vertical axis, and the average distance to the angle of the zygomatic processes and depth at this point were 3.24±0.98 cm and 0.27±0.11 cm, respectively. The nearest distance to the supraorbital margin and the depth at this point were found to be 1.81±0.85 cm and 0.21±0.08 cm. In conclusion, we believe that this study will be useful for practitioners to create a safe region for reconstructive or aesthetic procedures of the lateral face and temporal regions. Keywords: Superficial temporal artery, Temporal region, Reconstructive surgery, CT angiograms