Common carotid artery

Common carotid artery , a. Carotis communis, a steam bath, originates in the thoracic cavity to the right of the brachiocephalic trunk, and to the left - directly from the arch of the aorta, therefore the left common carotid artery is several centimeters longer than the right one. Further, the common carotid artery rises almost vertically upward and through the upper aperture of the thorax goes out into the neck region. Here it is located on the front surface of the transverse processes of the cervical vertebrae and the muscles covering them, on the side of the trachea and esophagus, behind the sternocleidomastoid muscle and the pre-tracheal plate of the fascia of the neck with the lobular-lingual muscle embedded in it. Outside the common carotid artery is the internal jugular vein, v. Jugularis interna, and behind them in the groove between them is the vagus nerve, n. Vagus.

Common carotid artery does not give branches. At the level of the upper edge of the thyroid cartilage there is bifurcation of the carotid artery, bifurcatio carotidis, on the external carotid artery, a. Carotis externa, and the internal carotid artery, a. Carotis interna.

The division site has an enlarged part of the common carotid artery - a carotid sinus, a sinus caroticus, to which a small nodule - a dormant glomus - is attached.

Sleepy glomus, glomus caroticum, 5 × 3 mm in size, is connected with the outer shell of the carotid artery and consists of connective tissue and specific cells embedded in it.

Sleepy glomus contains a large number of vessels and nerves. It is a chemoreceptor that reacts to a change in the concentration of oxygen, carbon dioxide and hydrogen ions in the blood, performing simultaneously an endocrine function.

The wall of the carotid sinus has characteristic features: the middle shell is poorly developed, and the outer (adventitial) membrane is thickened and contains a large number of elastic fibers and sensitive nerve endings.