Temporal Artery Ligation

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am exploring the temporal artery ligation procedure and wanted to ask a few quick question. 1) How many such procedures have you undertaken? 2) Where is the blood flow diverted to when the temporal artery is ligated? What are the chances that other veins visible on the forehead will swell/dilate in response to increased blood flow? 3) What is the estimated cost to have the procedure done on both sides of the head? Thank you.

A: Temporal artery ligation is a diverse group of procedures whose each number of ligations points will vary per patient. I have done over 50 patients for these type of ligations and each one is unique in some way. I would need to see pictures of your temporal areas that show the visible vessels for an assessment. Ligating temporal vessels at any point along their course does not divert the blood flow. Rather it dampens or eliminates the pulsations and visible arterial course by shutting off flow into that section of the vessel along its prominence. I have not yet seen that such ligations promote dilatation of other surrounding vessels particularly when the ligations are distal to the main trunk of the superficial temporal artery.

I will have my assistant pass along the general cost of the procedure to you tomorrow.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana