1 Address for Correspondence: Dr Mahendra Kumar Pant, Professor and Head, Department of Anatomy, Government Doon Medical College Dehradun, Uttarakhand (India) Email - pant.mahendra@gmail.com Date of Receiving: 19 May 2020 Date of Acceptance: 24 June 2020 0970-1842/Copyright © JAS 2020 https://doi.org/10.46351/jas.v28i1pp01-06 Original Article STUDY OF VARIATIONS OF CERVICAL SEGMENT OF INTERNAL CAROTID ARTERY Mahendra Kumar Pant 1 , Jayanti Pant 2 1. Department of Anatomy, Government Doon Medical College Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India 2. Department of Physiology, AIIMS, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India ABSTRACT Introduction: Presence of variations in the course of the cervical (extracranial) part of the internal carotid artery (I.C.A.) in the form of tortuosity, kinking, coiling or looping is a rare condition. These may be attributed to embryological or acquired factors. Patients with such variations may be asymptomatic in some cases, whereas, they may develop cerebrovascular symptoms due to carotid stenosis affecting cerebral circulation. Materials and methods: The present study was performed during routine undergraduate dissection classes in total 21 human cadavers (6 females and 15 males) on bilateral sides. Results: Bilateral kinking and looping of the cervical part of the I.C.A. was found in two cadavers. Conclusions: The risk of transient ischemic attacks (TIA) in patients with carotid stenosis is high and surgical correction is indicated as a part of treatment. Further, patients having these variations are more prone to injury during radical neck dissection and other surgical operations of the neck region. Knowledge about anatomy of such variations provides a framework to review the embryogenesis of the structure and also provides insight into surgical, medical and radiological implications. Keywords: Looping, Internal carotid artery, Variations INTRODUCTION Neck is the vital area which contains major blood vessels supplying the brain. The Internal Carotid Artery (ICA), which constitutes a major medium of blood circulation to brain, is one of the terminal branches of the common carotid artery. ICA passes straight upward through the neck within the carotid sheath [1-3]. ICA generally comprises of four parts namely, cervical, petrous, cavernous and cerebral part. In Cervical region, ICA generally has a straight course and rarely gives any branch. ICA lies superficially in the carotid triangle and then takes a deep course medial to the posterior