Occipital Artery

Information about Occipital Artery

*Artery:*

The arteries of the face and scalp. (Occipital visible at center left.)

Superficial dissection of the right side of the neck, showing the carotid and subclavian arteries.
Latin	arteria occipitalis
	subject #144 556
Supplies	occiput, scalp
Source	external carotid artery
Vein	occipital vein
Dorlands/Elsevier	a_61/12155290

The occipital artery arise opposite the facial artery, its path is below the posterior belly of digastic to the occipital region. This artery supplies blood to the back of the scalp and sterno-mastoid muscles. Other muscles it supplies are deep muscles in the back and neck.

Course and Relations

At its origin, it is covered by the posterior belly of the Digastricus and the Stylohyoideus, and the hypoglossal nerve winds around it from behind forward; higher up, it crosses the internal carotid artery, the internal jugular vein, and the vagus and accessory nerves.

It next ascends to the interval between the transverse process of the atlas and the mastoid process of the temporal bone, and passes horizontally backward, grooving the surface of the latter bone, being covered by the Sternocleidomastoideus, Splenius capitis, Longissimus capitis, and Digastricus, and resting upon the Rectus capitis lateralis, the Obliquus superior, and Semispinalis capitis.

It then changes its course and runs vertically upward, pierces the fascia connecting the cranial attachment of the Trapezius with the Sternocleidomastoideus, and ascends in a tortuous course in the superficial fascia of the scalp, where it divides into numerous branches, which reach as high as the vertex of the skull and anastomose with the posterior auricular and superficial temporal arteries.

Its terminal portion is accompanied by the greater occipital nerve.

Additional images

The internal carotid and vertebral arteries. Right side.

The nerves of the scalp, face, and side of neck.

Posterior primary divisions of the upper three cervical nerves.

Side of neck, showing chief surface markings.

External links

Occipital+artery at eMedicine Dictionary
Anatomy at MUN head/cbv
Norman/Georgetown lesson4 (parotid4)
Diagram at stchas.edu
Description at okstate.edu

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

• • [ e] Arteries of head and neck
CC, EC: Anterior	superior thyroid (superior laryngeal) - lingual (sublingual) facial: cervical branches (ascending palatine - tonsillar - submental - glandular) - facial branches (inferior labial - superior labial - lateral nasal - angular)
EC: Posterior and ascending	occipital - posterior auricular (stylomastoid) - ascending pharyngeal (meningeal branches)
EC: Terminal, superficial temporal	transverse facial - middle temporal (zygomaticorbital) - anterior auricular - frontal - parietal
EC: Terminal, maxillary	1st part: anterior tympanic - deep auricular - middle meningeal (superior tympanic) - accessory meningeal - inferior alveolar (mylohyoid) 2nd part: deep temporal - pterygoid branches - masseteric - buccal 3rd part: posterior superior alveolar - infraorbital (anterior superior alveolar) - descending palatine - artery of the pterygoid canal - sphenopalatine
CC, IC: portions #1 and 2	cervical portion - petrous portion (Vidian, caroticotympanic)
IC: cavernous portion/ophthalmic	orbital group: lacrimal - supraorbital - posterior ethmoidal - anterior ethmoidal - medial palpebral - supratrochlear - dorsal nasal ocular group: central retinal - ciliary (short posterior, long posterior, anterior) - superior hypophysial - inferior hypophyseal
IC: cerebral portion	ACA - anterior communicating - MCA (anterolateral central) - posterior communicating - anterior choroidal - circle of Willis
SUBCLAVIAN: vertebral	meningeal branches - posterior spinal - anterior spinal - PICA - basilar (pontine - labyrinthine - AICA - SCA - PCA)
SUBCLAVIAN: thyrocervical	inferior thyroid (inferior laryngeal, tracheal, esophageal, ascending cervical) - suprascapular - transverse cervical - dorsal scapular

Latin}}}
Official status
Official language of: Vatican City
Used for official purposes, but not spoken in everyday speech
Regulated by: Opus Fundatum Latinitas
Roman Catholic Church
Language codes
ISO 639-1: la
ISO 639-2: lat
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The occiput is the anatomical term for the posterior portion of the head.

Clinical significance

Trauma to the occiput can cause a basilar skull fracture.

Identification of the location of the fetal occiput is important in obstetrics.
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''For other uses of the word, see Scalp (disambiguation)

The scalp is the anatomical area bordered by the face anteriorly and the neck to the sides and posteriorly.
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In human anatomy, the external carotid artery is a major artery of the head and neck. It arises from the common carotid artery when it bifurcates into an internal and external branch.
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The occipital vein begins in a plexus at the back part of the vertex of the skull.

From the plexus emerges a single vessel, which pierces the cranial attachment of the Trapezius and, dipping into the suboccipital triangle, joins the deep cervical and vertebral veins.
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Elsevier, the world's largest publisher of medical and scientific literature, forms part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has substantial operations in the UK, USA and elsewhere.
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The facial artery (external maxillary artery in older texts) is a branch of the external carotid artery that supplies structures of the face.

Structure

The facial artery arises in the carotid triangle from the external carotid artery a little above the lingual
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The digastric muscle (named digastric as it has two bellies) is a small muscle located under the jaw.

It lies below the body of the mandible, and extends, in a curved form, from the mastoid process to the symphysis menti. It belongs to the suprahyoid muscles group.
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The word occipital refers to several areas of the human body in the occiput, the rear of the skull:

Occipital bun
Occipital lobe
Occipital bone
Occipital scales
Occipital artery
Occipital vein
Lesser occipital nerve
Greater occipital nerve

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In human anatomy, the sternocleidomastoid (pronounced /ˌstɚ.noˌkli.dəˈmæs.tɔɪ̯d/) muscles are anterior muscles in the neck that act to flex and rotate the head.
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The Stylohyoid muscle is a slender muscle, lying in front of, and above the posterior belly of the digastric muscle. It shares this muscle's innervation by the facial nerve.
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The hypoglossal nerve is the twelfth cranial nerve (XII). The nerve arises from the hypoglossal nucleus and emerges from the medulla oblongata in the preolivary sulcus separating the olive and the pyramid. It then passes through the hypoglossal canal.
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In human anatomy, the internal carotid artery is a major artery of the head and neck that helps supply blood to the brain.

Classification

Terminologia Anatomica currently breaks the artery into four parts: "cervical", "petrous", "cavernous", and "cerebral".
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The internal jugular vein collects the blood from the brain, from the superficial parts of the face, and from the neck.

Path

It is directly continuous with the sigmoid sinus, and begins in the posterior compartment of the jugular foramen, at the base of the skull.
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The vagus nerve (also called pneumogastric nerve or cranial nerve X) is the tenth of twelve paired cranial nerves, and is the only nerve that starts in the brainstem (within the medulla oblongata) and extends, through the jugular foramen, down below the head, to the
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In anatomy, the accessory nerve is a nerve that controls specific muscles of the neck. As a part of it is traditionally believed to originate in the brain, it is considered a cranial nerve.
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An atlas is a collection of maps or manifolds, traditionally bound into book form, but also found in multimedia formats. As well as geographic features and political boundaries, many often feature geopolitical, social, religious and economic statistics.
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The mastoid process is a conical prominence projecting from the undersurface of the mastoid portion of the temporal bone. It is located just behind the external acoustic meatus, and lateral to the styloid process.
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The temporal bones are situated at the sides and base of the skull.

The temporal bone supports that part of the face known as the temple.

Parts

Each consists of five parts:

Squama temporalis
Mastoid portion
Petrous portion
Tympanic part

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The splenius capitis arises from the lower half of the ligamentum nuchæ, from the spinousial process of the seventh cervical vertebra, and from the spinous processes of the upper three or four thoracic vertebræ.
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The longissimus is the muscle lateral to the semispinalis. It is the longest subdivision of the sacrospinalis that extends forward into the transverse processes of the posterior cervical vertebrae.
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For the muscle of the eye, see Lateral rectus muscle

The Rectus capitis lateralis, a short, flat muscle, arises from the upper surface of the transverse process of the atlas, and is inserted into the under surface of the jugular process of the occipital
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For the abdominal muscle see: External oblique muscle

The superior oblique muscle, or obliquus oculi superior, is a fusiform muscle in the upper, medial side of the orbit whose primary action is intorsion and whose secondary actions are to abduct (laterally
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The Semispinalis capitis (Complexus) is situated at the upper and back part of the neck, beneath the Splenius, and medial to the Longissimus cervicis and capitis.
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This article or section may be confusing or unclear for some readers.
Please [improve the article] or discuss this issue on the talk page. This article has been tagged since December 2006.
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In arthropod and vertebrate anatomy, the vertex (or cranial vertex) refers to the upper surface of the head.

In humans, the vertex is formed by four bones of the skull: the frontal bone, the two parietal bones, and the occipital bone.
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