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The internal carotid artery supplies the anterior part of the brain, the eye and its appendages, and
sends branches to the forehead and nose. Its size, in the adult, is equal to that of the external
carotid, though, in the child, it is larger than that vessel. It is remarkable for the number of
curvatures that it presents in different parts of its course. It occasionally has one or two flexures
near the base of the skull, while in its passage through the carotid canal and along the side of the
body of the sphenoid bone it describes a double curvature and resembles the italic letter S. Course
and Relations.—In considering the course and relations of this vessel it may be divided into four
portions: cervical, petrous, cavernous, and cerebral. Cervical Portion.—This portion of the internal
carotid begins at the bifurcation of the common carotid, opposite the upper border of the thyroid
cartilage, and runs perpendicularly upward, in front of the transverse processes of the upper three
cervical vertebræ, to the carotid canal in the petrous portion of the temporal bone. It is
comparatively superficial at its commencement, where it is contained in the carotid triangle, and lies
behind and lateral to the external carotid, overlapped by the Sternocleidomastoideus, and covered
by the deep fascia, Platysma, and integument: it then passes beneath the parotid gland, being
crossed by the hypoglossal nerve, the Digastricus and Stylohyoideus, and the occipital and posterior
auricular arteries. Higher up, it is separated from the external carotid by the Styloglossus and
Stylopharyngeus, the tip of the styloid process and the stylohyoid ligament, the glossopharyngeal
nerve and the pharyngeal branch of the vagus. It is in relation, behind, with the Longus capitis, the
superior cervical ganglion of the sympathetic trunk, and the superior laryngeal nerve; laterally, with
the internal jugular vein and vagus nerve, the nerve lying on a plane posterior to the artery;
medially, with the pharynx, superior laryngeal nerve, and ascending pharyngeal artery. At the base
of the skull the glossopharyngeal, vagus, accessory, and hypoglossal nerves lie between the artery
and the internal jugular vein
Peculiarities.—The length of the internal carotid varies according to the length of the neck, and also
according to the point of bifurcation of the common carotid. It arises sometimes from the arch of
the aorta; in such rare instances, this vessel has been found to be placed nearer the middle line of
the neck than the external carotid, as far upward as the larynx, when the latter vessel crossed the
internal carotid. The course of the artery, instead of being straight, may be very tortuous. A few
instances are recorded in which this vessel was altogether absent; in one of these the common
carotid passed up the neck, and gave off the usual branches of the external carotid; the cranial
portion of the internal carotid was replaced by two branches of the maxillary, which entered the
skull through the foramen rotundum and foramen ovale, and joined to form a single vessel.
Carte: „ANATOMY OF THE HEAD AND NECK” (basic course for students of Dentistry) - Globa LiLian,
Hacina Tamara , The State Medical and Pharmaceutical University “Nicolae Testemitanu”
Department of Human Anatimy, Chisinau 2010, Cap „THE SCIENCE OF THE VESSELS (ANGIOLOGY)”
pag. 68-69.
The Profunda Cervicalis (a. cervicalis profunda; deep cervical branch) arises, in most cases, from the
costocervical trunk, and is analogous to the posterior branch of an aortic intercostal artery:
occasionally it is a separate branch from the subclavian artery. Passing backward, above the eighth
cervical nerve and between the transverse process of the seventh cervical vertebra and the neck of
the first rib, it runs up the back of the neck, between the Semispinales capitis and colli, as high as the
axis vertebra, supplying these and adjacent muscles, and anastomosing with the deep division of the
descending branch of the occipital, and with branches of the vertebral. It gives off a spinal twig
which enters the canal through the intervertebral foramen between the seventh cervical and first
thoracic vertebræ.