Coronal slab volume rendering image of CT aortography shows artery of Adamkiewicz entering spinal canal(arrowheads) and joining the anterior spinal artery (arrows) after a hairpin turn.
The artery is named after
Albert Wojciech Adamkiewicz (August 11, 1850 – October 31, 1921), a Polish pathologist born in Żerków. It has several other names, including:
The blood supply of the spinal cord is complex and highly variable.[9]
In a study of approximately 70 people that examined the
spinal cord's blood supply it was found that:[4]
The Adamkiewicz artery sometimes arises from a
lumbar vessel.
In approximately 30% of people it arises from the right side.
One quarter of people have two large anterior segmental medullary arteries.
In 75% of people, the artery of Adamkiewicz originates on the left side of the aorta between the T8 and L1 vertebral segments.[10]
In an extensive literature review, recognition of the AKA using CT and/or MR was achieved in 466 of 555 cases (83.96%) and in 384 (83.3%) cases the AKA originated from a left intercostal artery.[11]
Clinical significance
"Great radicular artery of Adamkiewicz… provides the major blood supply to the lumbar and sacral cord."[12]
When damaged or obstructed, it can result in a syndrome of spinal cord ischemia, similar to
anterior spinal artery syndrome,[13] with loss of
urinary and
fecal continence and impaired motor function of the legs; sensory function is often preserved to a degree.
It is important to identify the location of the artery when surgically treating an
aortic aneurysm to prevent damage which would result in insufficient blood supply to the spinal cord.[14] In bronchial artery embolization for treatment of massive
hemoptysis, one of the most serious complications is inadvertent occlusion of the artery of Adamkiewicz.[15] Its location can be identified with
computed tomographic angiography.[16]
^Moore, Keith; Anne Agur (2007). Essential Clinical Anatomy, Third Edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 298.
ISBN978-0-7817-6274-8.
^
abTakase, K.; Sawamura, Y.; Igarashi, K.; Chiba, Y.; Haga, K.; Saito, H.; Takahashi, S. (2002). "Demonstration of the Artery of Adamkiewicz at Multi- Detector Row Helical CT". Radiology. 223 (1): 39–45.
doi:
10.1148/radiol.2231010513.
PMID11930046.
^Luyendijk W, Cohn B, Rejger V, Vielvoye GJ (1988). "The great radicular artery of Adamkiewicz in man. Demonstration of a possibility to predict its functional territory". Acta Neurochirurgica. 95 (3–4): 143–6.
doi:
10.1007/bf01790776.
PMID3228004.
^Adamkiewicz AA (1882). "Die Blutgefässe des menschlichen Rückenmarkes. II. Die Gefässe der Rückenmarksoberfläche". Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe. 85: 101–30.