Origin of Occipital Artery: An Observation on 200 Cases / 第三军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

The origin of 200 occipital arteries on 100 cadavers were investigated. 199 cases of the occipital arteries originated from the external carotid artery and only one was found arising from the common carotid. The artery arised as an independent stem in 80.5% of cases and from a common stem with other arteries in 19.5%. In 85.6% of cases the site of origin of the artery was within 10mm above or below the mandibular level. In addition, the sites of origin of the occipital and facial arteries were compared. It was found that the site of the occipital artery was usually higher than that of the facial artery in contrary to the statement of the conventional textbooks that they are in a level opposite to each other.