Neurovasculature of the Nasal Cavity

00:01 The nasal cavity has a very rich arterial supply.

00:05 So here we see the arterial supply of the lateral wall.

00:09 Here we see the superior, middle and inferior concha.

00:14 And a branch called the anterior ethmoidal artery.

00:21 Here we see the external nasal branch of the anterior ethmoidal artery supplying more external features.

00:30 We also have the Alar branch of the lateral nasal branch which is off of the facial artery and again, Alar refers to the areas sort of around the nostril.

00:41 We also have a posterior ethmoidal artery more posteriorly, and a sphenopalatine artery.

00:50 And here we see some of those posterior lateral nasal branches of the sphenopalatine artery.

00:57 We also have a little bit coming from the greater palatine artery.

01:03 In terms of the nasal septum, it also has a very rich blood supply.

01:08 Here we see septal branches of the anterior ethmoidal artery.

01:13 So while the septal branches of the posterior ethmoidal artery.

01:17 We also have septal branches from the nasal artery, which is off of the superior labial artery, labial, again, referring to lips, so this is an artery going along the upper lip.

01:29 We also have septal branches of that sphenopalatine artery.

01:35 We also have a little passageway through there for the terminal part of the greater palatine artery coming from that sphenopalatine artery.

01:44 Venous drainage, is going to be up through things like the nasal vein, draining to the superior sagittal sinus inside the cranial cavity.

01:54 And that's a rare connection from something outside the brain into the cranial cavity.

02:00 So this is actually draining through those dural venous sinuses.

02:05 Other drainage is more commonly through the facial vein which is more superficial.

02:13 We also have drainage more posterior really into the cavernous sinus in the cranial cavity.

02:18 Again, that's a deep structure.

02:22 We also have drainage to the pterygoid plexus, which was that large collection of veins that we saw the infratemporal fossa.

02:31 In terms of innovation, here we see the anterior ethmoid with external nasal branches of that anterior ethmoid supplying the outer portions of the nose.

02:43 We also have internal nasal branches of the infraorbital nerve, a branch of the maxillary division of trigeminal.

02:53 We have nasal branches of the anterior superior alveolar nerve which are also supplying the upper teeth.

03:00 And we have through the sphenopalatine foramen here.

03:04 We have posterior superior lateral nasal nerves.

03:08 As well as posterior inferior lateral nasal nerves.

03:13 And then very different from sensation but more for smell, we have the cranial nerve one branches going up through the cribriform plate to meet the olfactory bulb.