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Anatomy Atlases: Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus III: Nervous System: Variations in Branching of Facial Nerve.

Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus III: Nervous System

Variations in Branching of Facial Nerve

Ronald A. Bergman, PhD
Adel K. Afifi, MD, MS
Ryosuke Miyauchi, MD

Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed


Major types and percentages of a facial nerve branching and anastomoses. In 13%, major divisions (temporal and facial) are independent; in 11%, anastomoses occur between rami of the temporal division; in 22%, connections occur between adjacent rami from the major divisions; in 21%, anastomoses representing a composite of those in the11% and 22% categories occur; in 12%, proximal anastomoses occur within the temporal component, as well as distal interconnection between the latter and the cervical component; in 9%, two anastomotic rami connect the buccal divisin of the cervical to the zygomatic part of the temporal; in 5%, a transverse ramus, from the trunk of the nerve, contributes to the buccal ramus formed by anastomosis between the two major divisions; in 7% richly plexiform communications occur, especially within the temporal portion of the nerve.

Variations of the facial nerve include branches that pass through clefts in superficial veins or the formation nerve loops through which pass superficial veins.

Redrawn from McCormack, L.J., Cauldwell, E. W. and Anson. The surgical anatomy of the facial nerve with special reference to the parotid gland . Surg. Glynecol. Obstet. 80:620-630, 1945, and from Dargent, M. and P.E. Duroux. Donnees anatomiques concernant la morphologie et certains rapports du facial intra-parotidien. La Presse medicale No. 37, pp. 523-524,1946.

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