Ascending palatine artery

The ascending palatine artery is an artery is a branch of the facial artery which ascends along the neck before splitting into two terminal branches; one branch supplies the soft palate, and the other supplies the palatine tonsil and pharyngotympanic tube.

Ascending palatine artery
The internal carotid and vertebral arteries. Right side. (Ascending palantine visible at center, to left of mouth.)
Details
Source	Facial artery
Supplies	Levator veli palatini soft palate palatine tonsils auditory tube
Identifiers
Latin	arteria palatina ascendens
TA98	A12.2.05.021
TA2	4389
FMA	49555
Anatomical terminology [edit on Wikidata]

Structure

Origin

The ascending palatine artery arises from the proximal facial artery (close to the facial artery's origin).^[1]

Course

It passes superior-ward between the styloglossus muscle and stylopharyngeus muscle to reach the side of the pharynx.^[1]

It ascends along the side of the pharynx between the superior pharyngeal constrictor and the medial pterygoid muscle^[1] to near the base of the skull.^{[citation needed]}

Near the levator veli palatini muscle, the artery splits into its two terminal branches.^[1]

Branches

One terminal branch passes along the levator veli palatini muscle, winding around the superior border of the superior pharyngeal constrictor to provide arterial supply to the soft palate and anastomose with the greater palatine artery and its contralateral partner.^[1]

The other terminal branch pierces the superior pharyngeal constrictor to provide arterial supply to the palatine tonsil and pharyngotympanic tube. It forms anastomoses with the tonsillar artery and ascending pharyngeal artery.^[1]

See also

• Descending palatine artery

References

• Uflacker, Renan, ed. (2007). "Arteries of the Head and Neck". Atlas of Vascular Anatomy: An Angiographic Approach (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN 978-0-7817-6081-2.

1. Standring, Susan (2020). Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice (42th ed.). New York. p. 586. ISBN 978-0-7020-7707-4. OCLC 1201341621.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

• Anatomy photo:31:15-0100 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center - "Muscles in the Lateral Wall of the Pharynx"