SITUS INVERSUS; AN UNUSUAL VARIATION OF CAROTID SYSTEM.

An unusual case of situs inversus was observed during routine postmortem of a 60 year old male subject at Government medical college, Amritsar, Punjab, India. On the right side the common carotid artery was found to be absent. The right external carotid artery arose directly from the arch of aorta. The left internal carotid artery had a wide diameter and bifurcated . The right subdivision crossed over compensating for absent right internal carotid artery. The compensation of absent internal carotid artery in situs inversus makes present case unique and such variation has thus far never been reported in literature. The ontogeny and clinical implications of the variation have been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]