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Updated: May 12, 2026

Focal Cerebral Ischemia Model by Endovascular Suture Occlusion of the Middle Cerebral Artery in the Rat
Published on: February 5, 2011
Bilateral retroesophageal course of the carotid arteries
Dimitrios Virvilis1, George Koullias, Nicos Labropoulos
1Division of Vascular Surgery, Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8191, USA.
Abstract:
Many variations in the anatomy of the carotid artery are described in the literature. There are few case reports of hypoplasia or the retropharyngeal course of the internal carotid artery. We describe the unique case of a 72-year-old woman with bilateral complete retroesophageal common carotid arteries and concomitant hypoplasia of the right carotid system. Anatomical detection of such a variation is critical because the misidentification of a retroesophageal carotid artery carries the risk of potential injury during orotracheal intubation and oropharyngeal procedures.
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