Anatomy variant of the extracranial part of the internal carotid artery

Normally, the extracranial part of the internal carotid artery does not have branches. However, there are cases of abnormal artery origin from this segment. Most often, these are branches of the external carotid artery, which are located ectopically. In this article, we demonstrate a case of bilateral origin of the occipital and ascending pharyngeal arteries from the cervical segment of the internal carotid artery with a normally formed external carotid artery in a patient with bilateral critical stenosis of the internal carotid artery. The anatomical anomaly of the extracranial part of the internal carotid artery was detected during preoperative contrast spiral computed tomography, confirmed by arteriography of the branches of the aortic arch. The patient successfully underwent two planned surgical interventions. Eversion carotid endarterectomy was done alternately on both sides. Clinical case demonstrates the variability of the anatomy of the carotid arteries, which must be taken into account when performing surgical interventions in this anatomical area.