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Kiesselbach's plexus

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Kiesselbach's plexus

Kiesselbach's plexus, which lies in Kiesselbach's area, Kiesselbach's triangle, or Little's area, is a region in the anteroinferior part of the nasal septum where four arteries anastomose to form a vascular plexus. The arteries are:

Contents

  • Anterior ethmoidal artery and posterior ethmoidal artery (both from the ophthalmic artery)
  • Sphenopalatine artery (terminal branch of the maxillary artery)
  • Greater palatine artery (from the maxillary artery)
  • Septal branch of the superior labial artery (from the facial artery)

    • Significance

    Ninety percent of nose bleeds (epistaxis) occur in Little's area, as it is exposed to the drying effect of inspiratory current.

    History

    Kiesselbach's plexus is named after Wilhelm Kiesselbach (1839–1902), a German otolaryngologist who published a paper on the area in 1884.

    James L. Little, an American surgeon, first described the area in 1879. Little described the area as being "about half an inch .... from the lower edge of the middle of the column [septum]."

    References

    Kiesselbach's plexus Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA