Dissection of head and neck from a posterior approach

Blood vessels and nerves to left carotid body

Stanford holds the copyright to the David L. Bassett anatomical images and has assigned Creative Commons license Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International to all of the images.
For additional information regarding use and permissions, please contact Dr. Drew Bourn at dbourn@stanford.edu.

Image #82-1

Dissection of head and neck from a posterior approach

Blood vessels and nerves to left carotid body

The internal carotid artery and vagus nerve have been retracted posterolaterally and the superior cervical ganglion retracted posteromedially.

1. Occipital artery
2. Upper pointer: Sternocleidomastoid muscle Lower pointer: Accessory nerve (XI)
3. Nodose ganglion of vagus nerve
4. Vagus nerve (X) (retracted posterolaterally)
5. Internal carotid artery (retracted posterolaterally)
6. Upper pointer: Carotid body Lower pointer: Carotid body (accessory)
7. Nerve filaments entering wall of Internal carotid artery at site of carotid sinus
8. Artery which supplies carotid body
9. Internal jugular vein
10. Middle pharyngeal constrictor muscle
11. Internal carotid nerve
12. Superior laryngeal nerve
13. Gray rami communicantes (to cervical nerve I-II)
14. Superior cervical ganglion
15. Inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscle
16. Nerves to carotid body (branches of glossopharyngeal nerve (IX))
17. Pharyngeal plexus vagus nerve
18. Superior horn thyroid cartilage
19. Superior cardiac branch vagus nerve
20. Sympathetic trunk