Deck 6: Blood Supply of the Brain

Question 1

A 12-year-old boy loses his baseball helmet when he rounds second base. As he nears third base the pitcher throws the baseball, which hits the left side of the boy's head. Computed tomography reveals a fracture at the location of the pterion. Which of the following structures make up the pterion?

A) Temporal, parietal, frontal, and ethmoid bones
B) Parietal, frontal, and sphenoid bones
C) Frontal, parietal, temporal, sphenoid, and ethmoid bones
D) Sphenoid, parietal, temporal, and frontal bones
E) Ethmoid, parietal, temporal, and frontal bones

Answer 1

D

Question 2

A 31-year-old female is referred to a neurologist for intractable headaches. Magnetic resonance imaging reveals an aneurysm originating from one of the vessels surrounding the optic chiasm. The aneurysm is most likely located on which of the following?

A) Basilar artery
B) Middle cerebral artery
C) Posterior communicating artery
D) Medial striate artery
E) Anterior communicating artery

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which of the following contribute to the formation of the confluence of sinuses?

A) Straight, occipital, and transverse sinuses
B) Straight, transverse, and superior sagittal sinuses
C) Superior sagittal, occipital, and sigmoid sinuses
D) Sigmoid, straight, and transverse sinuses
E) Superior sagittal, straight, and occipital sinuses

Answer 3

E

Question 4

A 12-year-old girl develops an embolism in her anterior choroidal artery as a complication of a temporal lobectomy for intractable epilepsy. Which of the following structures is most likely affected by this interruption of blood supply?

A) Optic tract
B) Dorsal thalamus
C) Mammillary body
D) Body of the caudate
E) Olfactory bulb

Question 5

A neurologist explains to the daughter of a 78-year-old woman that her mother has a hemorrhage in the posterior limb of the internal capsule, putamen, and portions of the globus pallidus. Which of the following vessels is most likely involved in the hemorrhage?

A) M₄
B) A₂
C) Anterior communicating arteries
D) P₃
E) Lenticulostriate arteries

Question 6

A 29-year-old man is referred to a neurologist with visual motor deficits that have progressively worsened over the past few months. Magnetic resonance imaging reveals a mass in the cavernous sinus. Which of the following cranial nerves is likely to be affected by this growing tumor?

A) I, II, IV, V-1, VI
B) III, IV, V-1, V-2, VI
C) II, III, V-1, V-2, VI
D) II, IV, V-1, V-2, VI
E) I, II, III, VI, VII

Question 7

A 40-year-old woman suddenly begins to uncontrollably smack her lips while attending her son's soccer game. MRI reveals a hemorrhagic lesion in the area supplied by the recurrent artery of Huebner. Which of the following structures represents the most likely location of this lesion?

A) Body of caudate
B) Tail of caudate
C) Genu of caudate
D) Head of caudate

Question 8

A fracture at this location most likely damaged which of the following structures?

A) Middle meningeal artery
B) Deep temporal artery
C) Maxillary artery
D) Infraorbital artery
E) Calcarine artery

Question 9

A 5-year-old boy is riding his bike along the sidewalk in front of his house when he is knocked onto the concrete head-first by his older brother. His parents take him to the emergency department after the boy complains of a headache and dizziness and begins vomiting. A computed tomographic scan reveals a large pool of blood between the dura and arachnoid mater. What type of bleed is this?

A) Subdural hemorrhage
B) Subarachnoid hemorrhage
C) Intraventricular hemorrhage
D) Epidural hemorrhage
E) Intracerebral hemorrhage