Blood supply of the human levator and tensor veli palatini muscles

Abstract

In spite of its clinical importance in cleft palate, there are few detailed accounts of the blood supply of the soft palate and palatal muscles. A series of dissections was carried out to investigate the supply of the levator and tensor veli palatini muscles. Ten adult cadavers and 12 fetuses were used, all of which had been previously injected with a variety of media to outline the vascular tree. Conventional dissection was performed on the cadavers, and microsurgical instruments and a dissection microscope were utilized for fetal dissections. In 70% of dissections the m. levator veli palatini had a dual arterial supply, from the ascending palatine and ascending pharyngeal arteries. In the remainining cases the muscle was supplied by a single artery, either the ascending palatine or ascending pharyngeal. In 79% of dissections the tensor muscle had a dual supply from the accessory meningeal artery along with either the ascending palatine, ascending pharyngeal, or, in one case, the lesser palatine arteries. The results suggest that in careful surgical closure of the cleft soft palate the normal dual arterial supply would protect the tensor and levator muscles from vascular damage. In the minority of patients where only a single vessel supplies the levator, a radical intrapalatal dissection may jeopardize its vascularity.