Internal carotid artery vein and vagus nerve, the nerve lying on a plane posterior to the artery; medially, with the pharynx, superior laryngeal nerve, and ascending pharyngeal artery. At the base of the skull the glossopharyngeal, vagus, accessory, and hypoglossal nerves lie between the artery and the internal jugular vein. Unlike the external carotid artery, the internal carotid normally has no branches in the neck. The petrous segment, or C2, of the internal carotid is that which is inside the petrous part of the temporal bone. This segment extends until the foramen lacerum. The petrous portion classically has three sections: an ascending, or
Carotid sheath the pretracheal fascia, and the prevertebral fascia. The cervical part of the sympathetic trunk is embedded in prevertebral fascia immediately posterior to the sheath. Carotid sheath The carotid sheath is an anatomical term for the fibrous connective tissue that surrounds the vascular compartment of the neck. It is part of the deep cervical fascia of the neck, below the superficial cervical fascia meaning the subcutaneous adipose tissue immediately beneath the skin. The deep cervical fascia of the neck includes four parts: The carotid sheath is located at the lateral boundary of the retropharyngeal space at the level of the oropharynx