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The internal carotid artery supplies the brain, and the external carotid artery supplies the face. This fork is a common site for atherosclerosis, an inflammatory build-up of atheromatous plaque inside the common carotid artery, or the internal carotid arteries that causes them to narrow. [3] [4]
One of the principal causes of arterial stiffening with age is vascular calcification. Vascular calcification is the deposition of mineral in the form of calcium phosphate salts in the smooth muscle-rich medial layer of large arteries including the aorta. DNA damage, especially oxidative DNA damage, causes accelerated vascular calcification. [11]
Atherosclerosis [a] is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis, [8] characterized by development of abnormalities called lesions in walls of arteries.This is a chronic inflammatory disease involving many different cell types and driven by elevated levels of cholesterol in the blood. [9]
An atheroma, or atheromatous plaque, is an abnormal accumulation of material in the inner layer of an arterial wall. [1] [2]The material consists of mostly macrophage cells, [3] [4] or debris, containing lipids, calcium and a variable amount of fibrous connective tissue.
The right common carotid may rise above the level of the upper border of the sternoclavicular joint; this variation occurs in about 12 percent of cases. In other cases, the artery on the right side may arise as a separate branch from the arch of the aorta, or in conjunction with the left carotid.
Typically calcification is observed in the arteries of the upper and lower limb although it has been seen in numerous other medium size arteries. [10] In the radial or ulnar arteries it can cause "pipestem" arteries, which present as a bounding pulse at the end of the calcific zone. It may also result in "pulselessness."
The carotid body is a small cluster of peripheral chemoreceptor cells and supporting sustentacular cells situated at the bifurcation of each common carotid artery in its tunica externa. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The carotid body detects changes in the composition of arterial blood flowing through it, mainly the partial pressure of arterial oxygen , but also ...
Carotid artery dissection is a serious condition in which a tear forms in one of the two main carotid arteries in the neck, allowing blood to enter the artery wall and separate its layers (*dissection*). This separation can lead to the formation of a blood clot, narrowing of the artery, and restricted blood flow to the brain, potentially ...