RESUMO
Due to the great importance of the knowledge about variations occurring in the vascular system to surgeons and professionals who work with imaging, we describe in this article a variation of the origin of the occipital artery. 110 cadavers of male and female individuals had they carotid vascular tree in the region of the neck carefully dissected using loupe magnification and its origin and course were measured as well as a simple diameter. This artery usually branches off from the posterior part of the wall of the external carotid artery at the same level of the facial artery branching however, the two cases presented showed the occipital artery branching off very close to the carotid bifurcation, which characterize it as a trifurcation instead. The occipital artery branching off too close to the carotid bifurcation is a rarity as demonstrated by our results and the its literature is insufficient.