Surgical Exposure of the External Carotid Artery for Potential Bypass with Progressive Exposures
Undergraduate: April Hamer
Faculty Advisor: Adam Zanation
Department: Biology
The common carotid artery serves a major role in delivering oxygenated blood to the body¿¿¿s head and neck. It splits into two branches: internal and external, upon bifurcation at the superior border of the thyroid cartilage. The internal carotid artery (ICA) courses up to supply oxygen to the brain, while the external carotid artery (ECA) supplies blood to the external structures of the skull, such as the face. Restricting blood flow to either of these arteries can heave deadly affects and can potentially lead to a stroke and need for a carotid bypass surgery. The purpose of this study was to determine the surgical exposure of the ECA for potential bypass with progressive exposures as the primary outcome and to determine the number of identifiable ECA branches each dissection produces as the secondary outcome. Three male latex-injected cadaver heads and a total of six consecutive dissections were used in this anatomical study using three progressive approaches: transcervical, with addition of submandibular gland removal, and with parotidectomy. There was a statistically significant difference when comparing the ECA exposure between the transcervical and submandibular dissection approaches, but not between the submandibular and parotid gland removals. Additionally, the submandibular gland removal provided the most significant increase in exposure of the ECA during progressive dissections.