Ascending palatine artery

Artery: Ascending palatine artery
The internal carotid and vertebral arteries. Right side. (Ascending palantine visible at center, to left of mouth.)
Latin	arteria palatina ascendens
Gray's	subject #144 555
Supplies	pharynx, soft palate
Source	facial artery
Dorlands / Elsevier	a_61/12155332

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

The ascending palatine artery is an artery in the head that branches off the facial artery and runs up the superior pharyngeal constrictor muscle.

Structure

The ascending palatine artery arises close to the origin of the facial artery and passes up between the styloglossus and stylopharyngeus to the side of the pharynx along which it is continued between the superior pharyngeal constrictor and the medial pterygoid muscle to near the base of the skull.

It divides near the levator veli palatini muscle into two branches: one follows the course of this muscle, and, winding over the upper border of the superior pharyngeal constrictor, supplies the soft palate and the palatine glands, anastomosing with its fellow of the opposite side and with the descending palatine branch of the maxillary artery; the other pierces the superior pharyngeal constrictor and supplies the palatine tonsil and auditory tube, anastomosing with the tonsillar branch of the facial artery and the ascending pharyngeal artery.

See also

• Descending palatine artery

External links

• Ascending+palatine+artery at eMedicine Dictionary
• SUNY Labs 31:15-0100 - "Muscles in the Lateral Wall of the Pharynx"

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.