Blood vessels of the pharynx (English)

In this posterior perspective, we can see important blood vessels of the head and neck on each side of the pharynx. Each common carotid artery bifurcates in the neck into an internal carotid artery and an external carotid artery. The internal carotid ascends in the neck laterally to the pharynx and enters the skull to supply the brain. The external carotid artery gives off several branches, some of them responsible for supplying the upper part of the pharynx. In this perspective, we see one of these branches - the ascending pharyngeal artery. This is a long, slender vessel located deep in the neck. It leaves the external carotid artery close to the carotid bifurcation and ascends superiorly along the pharynx, giving off branches that supply various structures located in the upper part of the pharynx. The lower part of the pharynx is supplied by pharyngeal branches of the inferior thyroid artery, which originates from the thyrocervical trunk of the subclavian artery. The pharyngeal veins form a venous plexus which drains inferiorly into the internal jugular veins.