communicating artery

communicating artery definition - medical

com·mu·ni·cat·ing artery (kə-myo͞oˈnĭ-kāˌtĭng)

noun
  1. An artery that connects two larger arteries.
  2. A short artery joining the two anterior cerebral arteries and completing anteriorly the circle of Willis; anterior communicating artery.
  3. An artery with origin in the internal carotid artery, with distribution to the optic tract, cerebral peduncle, and hippocampal gyrus; and with anastomoses with the posterior cerebral artery to form the circle of Willis; posterior communicating artery.

The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.