Corpus: Lingual artery

The lingual artery is a vascular branch of the external carotid artery.

The lingual artery arises from the external carotid artery between the superior thyroid artery and the facial artery within the carotid triangle. It runs obliquely upward and medially to the greater horn (cornu majus) of the hyoid bone. The vessel then loops downward and forward, with the hypoglossal nerve running through this loop.

The lingual artery, covered by the digastric and stylohyoid muscles, runs horizontally forward beneath the hyoglossal muscle. Finally, it ascends almost vertically to the tongue, following its body as the deep lingual artery (profunda linguae artery) on the underside to the tip of the tongue.

• Suprahyoid branch (Ramus suprahyoideus)
• Dorsal lingual branches (Rami dorsales linguae)
• Sublingual artery (Arteria sublingualis)
• Deep lingual artery (Arteria profunda linguae)

In about 20 % of cases, the lingual artery and the facial artery arise from the external carotid artery as a common lingofacial trunk. Rarer variants include a common origin with the superior thyroid artery as a thyrolingual trunk or the formation of a thyrolinguofacial trunk.