Morphological patterns of the origin of the common carotid artery in German shepherd dogs

The present study was undertaken to report the pattern of origin of the common carotid artery and its morphological measurements in German shepherd dogs. The patterns were classified into four types depending on the site of origin and distance between the left and right common carotid artery in 60 silicon casts. The typical separation origin pattern was observed in 50 percent of the cases, while the bifurcation origin type, bicarotid type, and abnormal type were observed in 21.7 percent, 22.3 percent, and 5.0 percent of the cases, respectively. Differences in length and diameter of the brachiocephalic trunk were observed among the types. These results suggest that German shepherd dogs have three patterns of the common carotid artery originating from the brachiocephalic trunk and one abnormal pattern originating from the aortic arch.