External carotid artery External carotid artery The external carotid artery is a major artery of the head and neck. It arises from the common carotid artery when it splits into the external and internal carotid artery. It supplies blood to the face and neck. The external carotid artery begins at the upper border of thyroid cartilage, and curves, passing forward and upward, and then inclining backward to the space behind the neck of the mandible, where it divides into the superficial temporal and maxillary artery within the parotid gland. It rapidly diminishes in size as it travels up the neck, owing to the
Carotid body body is sent to the cardiorespiratory centers in the medulla oblongata via the afferent branches of the glossopharyngeal nerve. The afferent fibres of the aortic body chemoreceptors are relayed by the vagus nerve. These centers, in turn, regulate breathing and blood pressure, with hypoxia causing an increase in ventilation. A paraganglioma is a tumor that may involve the carotid body and is usually benign. Rarely, a malignant neuroblastoma may originate from the carotid body. Innervated by glossopharyngeal nerve (cranial nerve IX). Carotid body The carotid body ("carotid glomus" or "glomus caroticum") is a small cluster of chemoreceptors and supporting cells