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Carotid artery

General characteristic of a carotid artery

The carotid artery represents a pair artery which originates in a chest cavity. The main function of the general carotid artery – blood supply of a brain, eyes and the most part of the head.

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Structure of a carotid artery

The general carotid artery is divided into two: left and right. Right originates around a brachiocephalic trunk, and left around an aortic arch. It follows from this that the left artery is one-three centimeters longer than the right artery. Further the general carotid artery moves vertically up from an aorta, passing a thorax, and leaves to the cervical area. In cervical area the carotid artery is located before a surface of cross shoots of cervical vertebrae and muscles which cover them. Sideways from a gullet and a trachea, behind грудино - a clavicular and mastoidal muscle.

In process of rise the carotid artery does not share and only in the field of the upper edge of a thyroid cartilage forks on an outside carotid artery and an internal carotid artery. On site divisions the venter of a carotid artery – a sleepy sine near which the carotid gland is located is.

Functions of a carotid artery

The main function of a carotid artery as it was already stated above, blood supply of a brain, eyes and the most part of the head is. Level of normal blood supply of a brain makes about 50 ml on 100 grams of fabric. Such level of blood supply by a carotid artery is provided only with healthy arteries with a normal intima and normal width of vessels.

Width of vessels can be broken owing to various reasons and diseases, such as: atherosclerosis, tuberculosis, syphilis. Narrowing, i.e. a stenosis of a carotid artery, arises because of formation of a plaque in a carotid artery. Therefore there are blood turbulences at a blood-groove that can cause thrombosis and a stroke of a brain. Also the stroke of a brain can arise because of hit of pieces of the breaking-up plaque of a carotid artery in small vessels of a brain that causes their obstruction and thrombosis.

Obstruction implies total disappearance of a gleam of an artery. Obstruction is development of a stenosis of a carotid artery. At critical disturbances of a blood-groove operation on a carotid artery fixes problems and promotes improvement of cerebral circulation and the prevention of a stroke.

One more disease is crimpiness of a carotid artery. It is one of the most poorly studied diseases of carotid arteries. Crimpiness of a carotid artery is the reason of a third of strokes with a fatal outcome. Quite often this disease inborn, but sometimes also develops during an idiopathic hypertensia. The disease can not give any symptoms, but disturbances of cerebral circulation at some point can begin.

 
 
Whether you know that:

In operating time our brain spends the amount of energy equal to the 10 Watts bulb. So the image of a bulb over the head at the time of emergence of an interesting thought is not so far from the truth.