[Individual variability of the projection line of the common carotid artery]

The investigation has been performed on 87 corpses of persons of both sex, that died after 60 years of age from the pathology not connected with any diseases in the neck organs. Individual variability in the common carotid artery projection line has been revealed; it conforms, to a certain extent, with the value of the neck index. When the neck is short and thick, the artery position corresponds to the line that runs across the following points: the superior--0.5 cm forward from the mandibular angle, the inferior--0.5 cm medially from the sternoclavicular joint. When the neck index is within the limits 1.71-1.88, it is expedient to draw the classical projection line. When the neck index is within the limits 1.57-1.69, it is possible to determine the projection zone as an elongated rectangle. At the bottom of every side the border of this zone is a straight line drawn between the sternoclavicular joint and the point situating 0.6 cm laterally from the joint, and at the top--the line connecting the top of the mastoid process with the point 1.0 cm behind the mandibular angle.