Jorge Eduardo Duque Parra; Eduardo Londoño Garzón & Jhony Alejandro DiazVallejo

The middle meningeal artery is an important vessel that is distributed in the endocranium region, between greater wing of sphenoid by the homonymous groove. There are few references on the formation of bone bridges in their trajectory, an aspect of relevance in morphology. The present study included 100 skulls-dried and whole heads- of adults, removing the calvaria, and identifying the spinous foramen, through which the middle meningeal artery courses to determine the existence or not of bone bridges -unilateral, bilateral or absence- for the passage of this artery. Of 100 adult skulls analyzed, it was found at the level of the medial aspect of the greater wing of the sphenoid bone and in its internal table, 73 % presented it and in 27 % there was absence. Of the specimens with bone bridges, 39 % were bilateral and of the latter, 34 % was unilateral and 16 % was on the right and 18 % on the left. The bony bridge for the middle meningeal artery is an anatomical constant that must be evaluated in anatomical, clinical and surgical considerations.

KEY WORDS: Middle meningeal artery; Anatomy; Osteology.