The document discusses the branches of the external carotid artery, including the medial group, terminal branches, and maxillary artery. The medial group consists only of the ascending pharyngeal artery, which supplies structures like the pharynx. The terminal branches include the superficial temporal artery and its frontal and parietal branches. The maxillary artery travels to the infratemporal and pterygopalatine fossae, giving off branches like the inferior alveolar artery to structures of the face and lower jaw.

249. CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
The medial group
This group comprises only the
ascending pharyngeal artery, arteria
pharyngea ascendens, a small artery
that ascends along the lateral pharyn-
geal wall. It supplies the pharynx, the
soft palate, the tympanic cavity (the
inferior tympanic artery, it enters the
tympanic cavity via the tympanic ca-
naliculus) and the dura mater of pos-
terior cranial fossa (the posterior me-
ningeal artery).
The terminal branches
The superficial temporal artery, ar-
teria temporalis superficialis belongs
to the terminal branches of the exter-
nal carotid artery. In the beginning of
its way, it traverses the parotid gland;
within the responsibility area, it lies
covered by skin and fascia. The su-
perficial temporal artery gives off the
frontal branch, ramus frontalis and
the parietal branch, ramus parietalis.
These branches supply the respec-
tive regions of head. Apart from this,
the artery supplies the parotid gland
(with the parotid branch, ramus pa-
rotideus), the facial tissues (with the
transverse facial artery, arteria trans-
versa faciei), the auricle, the external
acoustic meatus, the zygomatic bone
and the temporal muscle.
The maxillary artery, arteria max-
illaris is the second larger artery of
the group. It resides medially from the
ramus of mandible. From the origina-
tion point, the artery runs slightly up-
wards and anteriorly (here it passes in
between the ramus of mandible and
the sphenomandibular ligament) and
then enters the infratemporal fossa
and further — the pterygopalatine
fossa (to reach the latter it passes in
between the lateral pterygoid and
the temporal muscles). Within the
pterygopalatine fossa, the artery gives
its terminal branches. The artery is
conditionally divided into three seg-
ments: the mandibular segment situ-
ated next to the neck of mandible, the
pterygoid segment related to the in-
fratemporal fossa and the pterygopal-
atine segment situated within the
respective area. The artery gives off
numerous branches with the respect
to the segments distinguished.
The first segment gives the branch-
es as follows:
• the inferior alveolar artery, arteria
alveolaris inferior occupies the
mandibular canal. It supplies the
lower teeth and gums; its terminal
branch (the mental branch, ramus
mentalis) supplies the mental re-
gion and the lower lip;
• the deep auricular artery, arte-
ria auricularis profunda supplies
the temporomandibular joint, the
external acoustic meatus and the
tympanic membrane;
• the middle meningeal artery, arteria
meningea media enters the cranial
cavity via the foramen spinosum
and gives the branches to the dura
mater of middle cranial fossa; this
is the largest dural branch. The
middle meningeal artery also gives
the superior tympanic artery, arte-
ria tympanica superior;
• the anterior tympanic artery, arte-
ria tympanica anterior reaches the
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