Successful Carotid Endarterectomy in a Patient with Superior Thyroid Artery Originated from Common Carotid Artery

Abstract

The common carotid artery typically does not have any branches in the neck before it bifurcates into the external and internal carotid arteries. Anomalies of the common carotid artery are rare and are usually incidental findings in postmortem anatomical dissection. One of these anomalies is the superior thyroid artery (STA), which occasionally originates from external carotid artery, arising from the common carotid artery. In this article, we present a successful carotid endarterectomy in a patient with an aberrant branch from the common carotid artery. Because carotid and vertebral artery Doppler ultrasonography and angiography showed subtotal occlusion at the left internal carotid artery, carotid endarterectomy was planned. When the left carotid artery was explored, the left STA was found arising from the common carotid artery. Traditional carotid endarterectomy was successfully performed. There is a relation between the origin of the STA and the site of bifurcation of the carotid artery in the literature. The STA tends to arise from the common carotid artery in the patients with high carotid bifurcation. Access to the internal carotid artery is an important step of carotid endarterectomy. Therefore, the finding of the STA originating from the common carotid artery can provide an insight on difficulties with surgical access.