Variation in the branching pattern of the anterior branches of the external carotid artery

Background/Aim: External carotid artery (ECA) shows a variable branching pattern of its stemming vessels. The aim of this study was to investigate the variations in the origin of the three primary anterior branches of the ECA: superior thyroid artery (STA), lingual artery (LA), and facial artery (FA). Methods: The branching pattern of the ECA was studied on 15 Thiel embalmed cadavers of Scottish population (7 males and 8 females). The carotid triangle was dissected bilaterally to uncover the common carotid artery (CCA), internal carotid artery and ECA. The level of carotid artery bifurcation (CB) was located. Variation of the branching patterns of the ECA was assessed. Moreover, the distances between the origin sites of these vessels and the site of the CB were measured. Results: The STA was found to arise more frequently from the ECA (60%) than from the CCA (40%), with no differences in distribution between sexes or sides. Regarding the assessment of the branching patterns of the ECA, the specimens where the STA, LA, and FA emerged as individual branches were 90% of cases, linguofacial trunk cases were 6.7%, and thyrolinguofacial trunk cases were 3.3%. The distances from the vessel origin site to the CB were found to be 8.11 ± 2.77 mm, 19.38 ± 8.85 mm, and 27.95 ± 10.15 mm, for the STA, LA, and FA, respectively. Conclusions: The current findings have confirmed that the ECA branching pattern is highly variable in Thiel embalmed cadavers of Scottish population. Therefore, considering some radiological imaging before conducting any invasive procedure in the neck region could be vital to prevent iatrogenic injuries.