Anatomy study note · Head and neck

Internal carotid artery

The artery supplying the brain, eye, forehead and part of the nose. It begins at the bifurcation of the common carotid artery at the upper border of the thyroid cartilage and has no branches in the neck.

Key points

• No branches in the neck.
• Carotid canal → cavernous sinus → ends as ACA + MCA.
• Gives the ophthalmic and posterior communicating arteries.
• Stenosis: ipsilateral blindness + contralateral hemiplegia.
• ICA: distal 3rd arch artery + dorsal aorta.
• Carotid sinus at its origin.
• Cerebral atherosclerosis → stroke.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Relations · Course · Branches · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 12, PDF pp. 1559, 1640–1642, 1809
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 15, PDF pp. 250–251
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 11, PDF pp. 197–199, 199, 205

More from the head and neck

• Internal jugular vein
• Iris
• Lacrimal apparatus
• Laryngeal membranes and ligaments
• Larynx
• Lateral cricoarytenoid
• Lateral pterygoid
• Lateral rectus
• Lens
• Levator palpebrae superioris
• Levator veli palatini
• Lips and oral cavity

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