Histopathologic Evaluations of the Lingual Artery in Healthy Tongue of Adult Cadaver

OBJECTIVES To clarify the anatomical distribution of the lingual artery in normal adult subjects through histopathologic evaluations. METHODS Eighteen healthy cadaveric tongues were used to produce 8 paraffin-embedded tissue sections each. Length from midline raphe, depth from dorsum of tongue and the whole transverse length tongue were measured. The lateral distance, depth, and proportion of lateral distance of deep lingual artery were determined from tip to base of tongue gradually. Lateral distance is length from median raphe to the center of deep lingual artery lumen. Depth is vertical distance from dorsal surface of tongue to the center of deep lingual artery. Proportion of lateral distance is obtained by dividing lateral distance with transverse length from median raphe to lateral border of tongue. The degree of symmetry between right and left sides and the difference between selected spots were evaluated. RESULTS Right and left sides of the lingual artery were symmetric. The lingual artery was lateralized as it run posterior. The lingual artery runs gradually deeper from the surface as it goes near the base of tongue. Both length and depth of the lingual artery gradually increased between 0%-75% of the mobile tongue, but 75%-100% zone of the lingual artery showed no significant difference. There was no anastomosis between right and left side of the lingual arteries. The lingual artery was located within 50% of the transverse length of tongue from median raphe. CONCLUSION The present study reveals 3-dimensional information on the anatomical distributions of the lingual artery in normal adult subjects. These findings gives us beneficial information about the handling of the lingual artery during oral and base of tongue-related surgery.