Clinical and engineering studies of carotid artery disease typically assume that the common carotid artery (CCA), proximal to the bifurcation, is relatively straight, at least enough to assume the velocity profile is fully-developed (i.e., Poiseuille or Womersley profile) or at least axisymmetric. However, a recent study from our group has shown the surprising presence, in vivo, of strongly skewed velocity profiles in what appeared to be only mildly curved CCAs [1]. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study from our group also demonstrated strong velocity profile skewing in an idealized geometry possessing subtle wiggles similar to those observed in the CCA [2].