VARIABILITY OF THE GEOMETRY OF THE HUMAN COMMON CAROTID-ARTERY - A VESSEL CAST STUDY OF 31 SPECIMENS

The carotid artery is of special interest both for the pathologist bec ause of its frequent depositions and for the fluidmechanic because of its complex flow properties. However, current knowledge of its geometr y is insufficient. Therefore, a vessel cast study was undertaken and a method to fabricate vessel casts was developed. At post mortem the ar teries are excised and filled with a resin at the proper transmural pr essure. Thirty-one vessel casts of the carotid artery were performed a nd the following selected geometric parameters of these vessel casts w ere measured: the diameters of the main branches of carotid bifurcatio n (common, internal and external arteries) and the angles between inte rnal, external and common carotid arteries. The geometric parameters v ary considerably and may contribute to a corresponding variability in local hemodynamics.