The brain trauma unit received a patient with damaged greater wing of the sphenoid bone. The fracture line crosses the spinous foramen of the sphenoid. What vessel was damaged?

Answer options

1. Middle meningeal artery
2. Superficial temporal artery
3. Anterior deep temporal artery
4. Lateral pterygoid artery
5. Posterior deep temporal artery

Explanation

The brain trauma unit received a patient with damaged greater wing of the sphenoid bone. The fracture line crosses the spinous foramen of the sphenoid. What vessel was damaged?It ascends between the sphenomandibular ligament and the pterygoids externus (lateral pterygoid muscle), and between the two roots of the auriculotemporal nerve to the foramen spinosum of the sphenoid bone, through which it enters the cranium; it then runs forward in a groove on the great wing of the sphenoid bone and divides into two branches, anterior and posterior