External carotid artery
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| Artery: External carotid artery | |
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| Arteries of the neck - right side. The external carotid artery arises from the common carotid artery - labeled Common caroti on the figure. | |
| Plan of branches of internal maxillary artery. (External carotid labeled at bottom left.) | |
| Latin | arteria carotis externa |
| Gray's | subject #144 551 |
| Source | Common carotid artery |
| Branches | superior thyroid artery lingual artery facial artery ascending pharyngeal artery occipital artery posterior auricular artery maxillary artery superficial temporal artery (The latter two could be considered a terminal bifurcation of the artery; the maxillary artery is the larger of the two.) |
| MeSH | A07.231.114.186.200.210 |
| Dorlands/Elsevier | a_61/12153668 |
In human anatomy, the external carotid artery is a major artery of the head and neck. It arises from the common carotid artery when it bifurcates into an internal and external branch.
The external carotid artery begins opposite the upper border of the thyroid cartilage, and, taking a slightly curved course, passes upward and forward, and then inclines backward to the space behind the neck of the mandible, where it divides into the superficial temporal and internal maxillary arteries.
It rapidly diminishes in size in its course up the neck, owing to the number and large size of the branches given off from it.
In the child, it is somewhat smaller than the internal carotid; but in the adult, the two vessels are of nearly equal size. At its origin, this artery is more superficial, and placed nearer the middle line than the internal carotid, and is contained within the carotid triangle.
Contents |
[edit] Relations
The external carotid artery is covered by the skin, superficial fascia, Platysma, deep fascia, and anterior margin of the Sternocleidomastoideus; it is crossed by the hypoglossal nerve, by the lingual, ranine, common facial, and superior thyroid veins; and by the Digastricus and Stylohyoideus; higher up it passes deeply into the substance of the parotid gland, where it lies deep to the facial nerve and the junction of the temporal and internal maxillary veins.
Medial to it are the hyoid bone, the wall of the pharynx, the superior laryngeal nerve, and a portion of the parotid gland.
Lateral to it, in the lower part of its course, is the internal carotid artery.
Posterior to it, near its origin, is the superior laryngeal nerve; and higher up, it is separated from the internal carotid by the Styloglossus and Stylopharyngeus, the glossopharyngeal nerve, the pharyngeal branch of the vagus, and part of the parotid gland.
[edit] Branches
- Superior thyroid artery
- Ascending pharyngeal artery
- Lingual artery
- Facial artery
- Occipital artery
- Posterior auricular artery
- Maxillary artery (a terminal branch)
- Superficial temporal artery (a terminal branch)
The mnemonic some anatomists like freaking out poor medical students may be useful for committing these branches to memory. A considerably more memorable mnemonic appears in Samuel Shem’s classic novel The House of God (1978):
- Running through my mind, over and over like Muzak, was a mnemonic for the branches of the external carotid artery: As She Lay Extended Olaf’s Potato Slipped In. And even there, the only one I could remember was Olaf’s, which stood for Occipital. And what the hell use was that?
Here Shem uses the older terms External maxillary artery for Facial artery and Internal maxillary artery for Maxillary artery. The Ascending pharyngeal and Superior thyroid appear in their correct sequence, while the names of the two terminal branches are reversed.
[edit] Additional images
The veins of the neck, viewed from in front. |
The veins of the thyroid gland. |
[edit] External links
This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.
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