Ascending pharyngeal artery

Artery: Ascending pharyngeal artery
The internal carotid and vertebral arteries. Right side.
Superficial dissection of the right side of the neck, showing the carotid and subclavian arteries.
Latin	arteria pharyngea ascendens
Gray's	subject #144 557
Supplies	pharynx
Source	external carotid artery

The ascending pharyngeal artery, the smallest branch of the external carotid, is a long, slender vessel, deeply seated in the neck, beneath the other branches of the external carotid and under the Stylopharyngeus. It lies just superior to the bifurcation of the common carotid artery.

Pharyngeal branches of ascending pharyngeal artery are three or four in number. Two of these descend to supply the Constrictores pharyngis medius and inferior and the Stylopharyngeus, ramifying in their substance and in the mucous membrane lining them.

Course

It arises from the back part of the external carotid, near the commencement of that vessel, and ascends vertically between the internal carotid and the side of the pharynx, to the under surface of the base of the skull, lying on the Longus capitis.

External links

• Ascending+pharyngeal+artery at eMedicine Dictionary

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.

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