Sreedharan Ranjith, Krishna Lalu, Shetty Ashwija
Jubilee Mission Medical College and Research Institute, Department of Anatomy, Thrissur, Kerala, India.
Kasturba Medical College, Department of Anatomy, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
J Vasc Bras. 2018 Oct-Dec;17(4):290-295. doi: 10.1590/1677-5449.004218.
The major arterial supply to the thyroid gland is from the superior and inferior thyroid arteries, arising from the external carotid artery and the thyrocervical trunk respectively. The external laryngeal nerve runs in close proximity to the origin of the superior thyroid artery in relation to the thyroid gland. The superior thyroid artery is clinically important in head and neck surgeries.
To locate the origin of the superior thyroid artery, because wide variability is reported. To provide knowledge of possible variations in its origin, because it is important for surgical procedures in the neck.
The origin of the superior thyroid artery was studied by dissecting sixty adult human hemineck specimens from donated cadavers in a Department of Anatomy.
The highest incidence observed was origin of the superior thyroid artery from the external carotid artery (88.33%), whereas origin from the common carotid bifurcation only occurred in 8.33%. However, in 3.33% of cases, the superior thyroid artery originated from the common carotid artery and in a single case, the external laryngeal nerve did not cross the stem of the superior thyroid artery at all, but ran ventral and parallel to the artery.
It is important to rule out anomalous origin of superior thyroid artery and verify its relationship to the external laryngeal nerve prior to ligation of the artery in thyroid surgeries, in order to prevent iatrogenic injuries. Moreover, because anomalous origins of the superior thyroid artery are only anatomic variants, thorough knowledge of these is decisive for head and neck surgeries.
甲状腺的主要动脉供应来自甲状腺上动脉和甲状腺下动脉，分别起源于颈外动脉和甲状颈干。在甲状腺附近，喉上神经走行于甲状腺上动脉起始部附近。甲状腺上动脉在头颈外科手术中具有重要的临床意义。
定位甲状腺上动脉的起源，因为已有报道其变异广泛。了解其起源可能存在的变异，因为这对颈部手术操作很重要。
在解剖学系，通过解剖60例来自捐赠尸体的成人半侧颈部标本，研究甲状腺上动脉的起源。
观察到的最高发生率是甲状腺上动脉起源于颈外动脉（88.33%），而仅起源于颈总动脉分叉处的情况仅占8.33%。然而，在3.33%的病例中，甲状腺上动脉起源于颈总动脉，并且在1例中，喉上神经根本没有跨过甲状腺上动脉的主干，而是在动脉腹侧与其平行走行。
在甲状腺手术中结扎该动脉之前，排除甲状腺上动脉的异常起源并确认其与喉上神经的关系很重要，以防止医源性损伤。此外，由于甲状腺上动脉的异常起源仅是解剖变异，对这些变异的全面了解对头颈外科手术至关重要。
