Abstract: Objective    To analyze CTA manifestations of ectopic oropharyngeal internal carotid artery and its clinical significance.    Methods   The clinical and imaging data of 363 patients who underwent head and neck CTA from January 2021 to October 2021 were retrospectively analyzed, and the internal carotid artery form of oropharyngeal was analyzed.    Results    It was found that the incidence of ectopic oropharyngeal internal carotid artery was 4.96% (18 cases). Among the 18 patients, there were 3 cases of bilateral oropharyngeal internal carotid artery heterotopia, 11 cases on the right side and 4 cases on the left side. The average distance from the variant internal carotid artery to the pharyngeal wall was (3.16±1.47) mm. Most of patients had no obvious local symptom, and some had pharyngeal foreign body sensation, sleeping snoring, swallowing obstruction and transient syncope during eating.   Conclusions   CTA can clearly and accurately display the ectopic oropharyngeal internal carotid artery, and improve its detection rate, so as to provide anatomical basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Key words: Internal carotid artery,  ,  , Ectopic,  ,  , Oropharynx,  ,  , CTA