21532 SCAN0150

CHAPTER11 T Orbital Blood Supply 209

FIGURĘ 11-9

Branches of extemal carotid artery that supply ocular adnexa. (Redrawn from Clemente CD: Anatomy: a regional atlas of the human body, Munich, 1987, Urban and Schwarzenberg. Copyright 1987, Lea & Febiger.)

MAXILLARY ARTERY

The other branch of the external carotid that supplies areas in proximity to the orbit is the maxillary artery. It passes through the infratemporal fossa and then upward, medial to the mandibular joint toward the maxillary bonę (see Figurę 11-9). Within the infratemporal fossa, the masdllary artery shows some variability in both its branching pattern and in its topographic relations with other structures.²⁴'²¹⁵ It runs along the pterygo-palatine fossa and enters the orbit through the inferior orbital fissure as the infraorbital artery. The artery then runs forward along the infraorbital groove in the maxillary bonę, passes through the infraorbital canal, and exits through the infraorbital foramen (see Figurę 11-3). It supplies the lower eyelid and lacrimal sac, and it anastomoses with the angular artery and the dorso-nasal artery.²¹ While in the infraorbital canal, the infraorbital artery supplies the inferior rectus and inferior