title: A heat map of superior cervical ganglion location relative to the common carotid artery bifurcation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Determining the superior cervical ganglion's precise anatomical location for local anesthetic block, when stellate block is not feasible or is contraindicated, is difficult.
  
  
  METHODS
  We dissected the superior cervical ganglion in 60 embalmed cadaveric specimens. Multiple regressions determined whether subject characteristics predicted the distance between the superior cervical ganglion and common carotid artery bifurcation and the superior cervical ganglion dimensional width and area. Based on these regressions, we mapped the ganglion and common carotid artery bifurcation using a pseudocolor statistical heat map.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The statistical model significantly predicted the superior cervical ganglion-common carotid artery bifurcation distance (P = 0.01), and the superior cervical ganglion dimensional width (P = 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study determined that the common carotid artery bifurcation is a good landmark for localizing the superior cervical ganglion for anesthetic block.
authors: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1732, USA. jjwisco@mednet.ucla.edu
authors: Jonathan J
authors: JJ
authors: Wisco
authors: M Elena
authors: ME
authors: Stark
authors: Ilan
authors: I
authors: Safir
authors: Siamak
authors: S
authors: Rahman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D059925:Anatomic Landmarks; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002102:Cadaver; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004210:Dissection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009407:Nerve Block; D012044:Regression Analysis; D017783:Superior Cervical Ganglion / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler
chemical_list: D000779:Anesthetics, Local