False-colour arteriograph (angiograph) of the human head, showing the arterial supply to the brain. Arteriography is the x-ray examination of an arter

---

False-colour arteriograph (angiograph) of the human head, showing the arterial supply to the brain. Arteriography is the x-ray examination of an artery that has been outlined by the prior injection of a radio-opaque contrast medium. The vessel which supplies the brain is the internal carotid artery (a division of the common carotid artery), which continues upwards towards the base of the brain, where it forms a circle with the cerebral arteries (the circle of Willis). This arrangement helps to maintain the supply of blood to the brain in the event of a feeding vessel becoming blocked (ie by a cerebral aneursym).

---

Size: 5088px × 3520px
Photo credit: © ALAIN POL, ISM/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: anatomy, angiography, arteriography, body, brain, central, cns, false-coloured, human, nervous, system