A variant of the anatomy of the extracranial part of the internal carotid artery

Normally, the extracranial part of the internal carotid artery (ICA) 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 (ECA), which are located ectopically. A case of bilateral discharge of the occipital and ascending pharyngeal arteries from the cervical segment of the internal carotid artery with it’s bilateral critical stenosis with a normally formed external carotid artery. Anatomical anomaly of the extracranial part of the ICA was revealed during preoperative contrast spiral computed tomography, which was confirmed by cerebral angiography data. The patient underwent eversional carotid endarterectomy with an interval of two months. 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.