Main arteries of the head & neck

- The main arteries of the head & neck are :

1- Common carotid artery.
2- External carotid artery.
3- Internal carotid artery.
4- Subclavian artery.
Common carotid artery
- The right common carotid artery arises from the brachiocephalic trunk
( innominate artery).
- The left common carotid artery arises from the arch of the aorta in the thorax.
- They ascend on the side of the neck and at the upper border of the thyroid
cartilage , they divide into external and internal carotid arteries.
External carotid artery
- It ascends upwards & enter the parotid gland.
- It divides behind the neck of the mandible into two terminal branches :
a) Superficial temporal artery.
b) Maxillary artery.
Branches :
1- Superior thyroid artery, it supplies the thyroid gland.
2- Ascending pharyngeal artery.
3- Lingual artery supplies the tongue.
4- Facial artery supplies the face.
5- Occipital artery.
6- posterior auricular artery supplies the scalp.
7- Superficial temporal artery , it ascends upwards & supplies the scalp.
8- Maxillary artery, it runs forwards and enters the infratemporal fossa.
 Internal carotid artery
- It ascends in the neck to the base of the skull.
- It enters the cranial cavity through the carotid canal.
- It has no branches in the neck.
- It supplies the brain in the cranial cavity, and gives ophthalmic artery which
enters the orbit to supply the eyeball, lacrimal gland, nose and gives
supratrochlear & supraorbital branches which exit from the orbit in the face
where they supply the forehead & anterior part of the scalp.
 Main veins of the head & neck
1- Internal jugular vein (I.J.V.) :
- It begins just below the jugular foramen, as a continuation of the sigmoid
sinus in the cranial cavity.
- It descends in the neck and unites with the subclavian vein behind the
medial end of the clacicle to form the brachiocephalic vein (innominate
vein).
- Tributaries :
1- Common facial vein .
2- Pharyngeal veins.
3- Lingual vein.
4- Superior thyroid vein.
5- Middle thyroid vein.
2- Retromandibula vein:
- It is formed by union of superficial temporal vein and maxillary vein, and
descends in the parotid gland where it ends by dividing into anterior and
posterior divisions.

3- facial vein:
- It is formed by union of supratrochlear and supraorbital veins at the
medial angle of the eye, then it descends in the face where it unites with
the anterior division of the retromandibular vein to form the common
facial vein , which ends in the internal jugular vein.

4- External jugular vein:

- It is formed by union of the posterior auricular vein and posterior division
of the retromandibular vein, then descends obliquily on the sternomastoid
muscle where it ends in the subclavian vein.