Carotid Arteries Anatomy
1. Superficial temporal artery
2. Occipital artery
3. Internal carotid artery
4. External carotid artery
5. Common carotid artery
6. Superior thyroid artery and Superior laryngeal branch
7. Ascending pharyngeal artery
8. Lingual artery
9. Facial artery
10. Posterior auricular artery
11. Maxillary artery
Comment: The common carotid artery ascends in the neck in
the carotid sheath. At about the level of the superior border of the thyroid
cartilage it divides into the internal carotid artery, which passes into the
cranium, and the external carotid artery, which supplies more superficial
structures lying outside the skull. The external carotid artery gives rise to 8
branches.
These 8 branches supply much of the
blood to the head outside of the cranium, although several branches also
ultimately enter the cranial regions (meningeal and auricular branches of the
maxillary artery, 1 of the terminal branches of the external
carotid).
Clinical: The branches of the external carotid arteries
anastomose across the midline neck (superior thyroid arteries) and the face to
provide collateral circulation should an artery be compromised by occlusion or
lacerated in trauma.
The small branches of the superficial
temporal artery supply the scalp, which bleeds profusely when cut because the
small arteries are held open (rather than retracted into the subcutaneous tissue) by the tough connective tissue
lying just beneath the skin (epidermis and dermis).
