Ophthalmic artery arising from the anterior cerebral artery diagnosed by MR angiography

Extremely rarely, the ophthalmic artery (OphA) arises from the A1 segment of the anterior cerebral artery (ACA). Discovery of this anomalous OphA during angiography or surgery has been reported in several patients. We report a case in which an OphA of ACA origin was diagnosed by magnetic resonance (MR) angiography and confirmed by selective cerebral angiography. To our knowledge, this is the first report of this variation with MR angiography. Careful observation of MR angiographic images is important for detecting rare arterial variations. Partial maximum-intensity-projection images are useful in identifying tiny anomalous arteries on MR angiography.