What Is the External Carotid Artery?

The external carotid artery is one of the terminal branches of the common carotid artery and is mainly distributed in the front of the neck, face, cranial cranium, and dura; it originates from the common carotid artery in the carotid triangle, above the plane of the upper edge of thyroid cartilage. Its initial segment rises in the anterior and medial part of the internal carotid artery, and then turns to the outside in the posterior mandibular space. It passes through the parotid gland and reaches the back of the mandibular neck. It is divided into two terminal branches, the superficial temporal artery and the maxillary artery. The inside of the external carotid artery is the hyoid bone, the lateral wall of the pharynx, and the inner branch of the superior laryngeal nerve. The external carotid artery is separated from the internal carotid artery by the styloid pharyngeal muscle and the styloid tongue muscle. The superficial surface is crossed by the common facial vein, hypoglossal nerve, posterior abdomen, and styloid hyoid muscle.

The external carotid artery is one of the terminal branches of the common carotid artery and is mainly distributed in the front of the neck, face, cranial cranium, and dura; it originates from the common carotid artery in the carotid triangle, above the plane of the upper edge of thyroid cartilage. Its initial segment rises in the anterior and medial part of the internal carotid artery, and then turns to the outside in the posterior mandibular space. It passes through the parotid gland and reaches the back of the mandibular neck. It is divided into two terminal branches, the superficial temporal artery and the maxillary artery. The inside of the external carotid artery is the hyoid bone, the lateral wall of the pharynx, and the inner branch of the superior laryngeal nerve. The external carotid artery is separated from the internal carotid artery by the styloid pharyngeal muscle and the styloid tongue muscle. The superficial surface is crossed by the common facial vein, hypoglossal nerve, posterior abdomen, and styloid hyoid muscle.

Chinese name

External carotid artery

Foreign name

external carotid artery

The external carotid artery is emitted along the way:

The superior thyroid artery is mostly slightly below the plane of the large angle of the hyoid bone, and originates from the anterior wall of the external carotid artery, along the lateral edge of the thyroid cartilage, with the lateral branches of the superior laryngeal nerve forward and down to the left and right upper lobes of the thyroid 5 At 23cm, the trunk is divided into glandular branches and distributed on the upper part of the gland. In addition, the thyroid artery also emits the superior laryngeal artery and several muscular branches. The former with the internal branch of the superior laryngeal nerve passes through the thyroid hyoid periosteum or the thyroid cartilage plate and is distributed in the larynx; the latter is distributed in the ring thyroid muscle, subhyoid muscle group, and chest Mastoid muscle.

The lingual artery originates from the external carotid artery at the plane of the large angle of the hyoid bone and travels upwards and forwards to the tongue and the floor of the mouth.

The facial artery, just above the starting point of the lingual artery, originates from the external carotid artery, travels forward, bypasses the lower edge of the mandible to reach the face, and is distributed on the face and palatine tonsil.

Occipital artery, which originates from the external carotid artery at the lower inferior edge of the biceps, passes through the sternocleidomastoid muscle and other deep planes, and penetrates into the suboccipital skin approximately 38mm outside the occipital protuberance and continues up to the skull. The parietal occipital branch is distributed along the neck and sternocleidomastoid muscles along the way, as well as the occipital skin and dura mater, and is in good agreement with the branches of other arteries in the subcutaneous tissue of the head. The branch to the sternocleidomastoid muscle, sometimes directly from the external carotid artery.

The posterior ear artery originates from the external carotid artery at the upper edge of the back of the biceps muscles, passes through the deep side of the parotid gland to between the mastoid process and the back of the auricle, and branches are distributed in the muscle and skin behind the ear and the cranial occipital. It sometimes publishes a mastoid artery distributed through the mastoid foramen in the tympanic cavity, mastoid atrium, and facial nerve.

Ascending pharyngeal artery, distributed in the pharyngeal wall and soft palate.

Superficial iliac temporal artery, one of the terminal branches of the external carotid artery. After it is issued, it passes through (and supplies) the parotid gland behind the mandible neck, crosses the zygomatic arch through the front of the external auricula and reaches the temporal part. The frontal and parietal branches are distributed in the muscles and skin of the forehead and apex, and are in good agreement with the contralateral branches of the same name and the occipital artery. The superficial temporal artery is superficial. In recent years, it has been used as an intracranial and external vascular anastomosis bridge, or intubated to the external carotid artery through this artery to treat head and neck tumors.

The maxillary artery is the other terminal branch of the external carotid artery. After it is issued, it moves forward and inward through the medial side of the mandible neck, into the pterygopalatine fossa through the deep or shallow side of the infratemporal fossa; it branches along the way and is distributed in the nasal cavity, palate, cheek, palatine tonsil, chewing muscle, mandibular teeth and gums, External auditory canal, middle ear and dura. The most important of these is that the middle meningeal artery enters the middle cranial fossa through the spinous foramen and is widely distributed in the dura. The inferior alveolar arteries enter the mandibular foramen to supply mandibular teeth, etc., at the end, the palatine foramen are renamed the iliac artery and are distributed in the palate. The infraorbital artery enters the orbit from the infraorbital fissure and passes through the infraorbital sulcus and infraorbital canal, and is distributed to the maxillary sinus, maxillary incisor and canine. Variations of the external carotid artery are more common, mainly due to variations in the origin of its branches.