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Today we're going to talk about the carotid space.

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This is my favorite space of all the

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nonmucosal spaces in the head neck,

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largely because it abounds with benign pathology,

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not malignancy.

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So we're going to start in on looking at the anatomy

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and the pathology of the carotid space.

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Today we will look at the model of the space with

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the analysis of the displacement of the structures

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in the carotid space for helping us with a

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differential diagnosis of lesions of that space.

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And I'll be providing some important clinical pearls

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about the pathology within the carotid space.

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As I said,

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the carotid space is my favorite of the spaces of

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the head neck. The spaces of the head neck,

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by and large,

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are separated into those that are superhyoid versus

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those that are infrahed versus those that cross

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from supryoid to the infrahyoid neck.

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And obviously,

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we're talking about the highoid bone as that marker.

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The carotid space is one of the spaces that

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starts in the superhyoid portion.

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In fact, it starts right at the skull base and goes all

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the way down from supryoid to infrahyoid,

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extending to the mediastynum.

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Another name for the carotid space is

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the post styroid paraphernial space.

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So you will see people use those

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terms interchangeably.

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The spaces of the head neck are defined by

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the layers of the deep cervical fascia. Normally,

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you would hear someone talk about the superficial,

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middle and deep layers of the deep cervical fascia

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with regard to the carotid space

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and the carotid sheath.

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The deep space is going to be

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our pre vertebral fascia.

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That's the deep layer of the deep cervical fascia.

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The middle layer is going to

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be our pretrachial fascia,

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and the superficial layer is going to be the

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investing fascia, which occurs laterally.

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And these will be seen in a diagram momentarily to

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ensure that these spaces are

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actually enclosed spaces.

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You can see that in this patient who has

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had a perforation of the airway.

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You can see the definition of

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the retropharyngeal space,

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the definition of the prestyloid paraphernial space.

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You have the parotid,

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the space and the masticator space linking up here.

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Here's parotid tissue in the parade space,

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and here is superficially onto the masticator space

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with the definition of the masseter muscle.

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So all of these spaces do have enclosing fascia,

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which confine pathology into those spaces.

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And the carotid space for that is true as well.