Pathology and surgery of Bell's palsy; a report of 108 cases subjected to the Ballance-Duel operation.

A description of the blood supply is important for clinical reasons. The intratympanic part of the nerve, the mastoid cells, the semicircular canals and the tympanic cavi ty are mainly nourished by the s ty lomastoid artery, a branch of the posterior auricular, which enters the Fal lopian canal at the s ty lomastoid foramen and runs proximally. There are two principal anastomoses . A t the knee of the facial canal, posterior to the tympanum, the s ty lomastoid artery anastomoses with the superior petrosal branch of the middle meningeal , which enters the canal by the hiatus facialis. The second anastomosis concerns the posterior tympanic branch of the stylomastoid artery; this fol lows the chorda tympani in the posterior part of the tympanic cavi ty and on the tympanum before jo ining with branches to the tympanum from the internal maxil lary, ascending pharyngeal , middle meningeal and carotid arteries.