Endarterectomy of an Occluded ICA: Short Segment Occlusion with Distal Patency Maintained by an Aberrant Ascending Pharyngeal Artery

The authors report a case in which an anomalous ascending pharyngeal artery maintained patency of the internal carotid artery beyond an occlusion. The patient presented with ipsilateral transient ischaemic attacks and was found to have an internal carotid artery occlusion on Doppler ultrasound. Subsequent angiography demonstrated retrograde flow in the ipsilateral APA, perfused by pharyngeal anastomoses from the contralateral APA with slow antegrade flow in the ipsilateral ICA distal to the occlusion. Carotid endarterectomy resulted in abolition of the TIA's.