Inferior tympanic artery

Inferior tympanic artery
Inferior tympanic artery
	Superficial dissection of the right side of the neck, showing the carotid and subclavian arteries
Details
Precursor	aortic arch 2
Source	Ascending pharyngeal artery
Identifiers
Latin	arteria tympanica inferior
TA98	A12.2.05.013
TA2	4381
FMA	49506
	Anatomical terminology [ edit on Wikidata]

Last updated July 18, 2025

The inferior tympanic artery is a small branch of the ascending pharyngeal artery which passes through the tympanic canaliculus alongside the tympanic branch of glossopharyngeal nerve (CN IX) to reach and provide arterial supply to the medial wall of the tympanic cavity ^[1] where it forms anastomoses with the other tympanic arteries.^{[ citation needed ]}

Clinical significance

In the case of a missing or underdeveloped cervical ICA, the Inferior tympanic artery can provide collateral ICA circulation by reversing flow of the caroticotympanic artery (embryologic hyoid artery). This can result in pulsatile tinnitus. The resulting aberrant carotid artery can mimic neoplasm on CT.^{[ citation needed ]}

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 557 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

↑ Standring, Susan (2020). Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice (42th ed.). New York. pp. 585–586. ISBN 978-0-7020-7707-4. OCLC 1201341621.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

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[:224-1] Standring, Susan (2020). Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice (42th ed.). New York. pp. 585–586. ISBN 978-0-7020-7707-4. OCLC 1201341621.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[1]