Median cricothyroid ligament

Study entry

Classification

Ligament of the larynx.

Surfaces

From the lower margin of the thyroid cartilage to the arch of the cricoid cartilage.

Capsule

It merges internally with the conus elasticus. It is where the larynx lies closest to the skin.

Movements

It has no movement of its own.

Blood supply

The cricothyroid artery, a small branch of the superior thyroid, passes over it.

Innervation

[CHECK: Moore does not describe it in the passages consulted (look in another source).]

Clinical

It is palpated as a soft area just below the thyroid cartilage, with the neck extended: this is the site of needle cricothyroidotomy (coniotomy).

Source: cap. 9, «Esqueleto laríngeo»; cap. 9, «Anatomía de superficie de la laringe»

Other structures in this region

• Stylohyoid ligament
• Pterygospinous ligament
• Thyrohyoid membrane (median and lateral thyrohyoid ligaments)
• Cricothyroid joint
• Cricoarytenoid joint
• Joints of the auditory ossicles (incudomalleolar and incudostapedial)
• Gomphosis (dentoalveolar syndesmosis)
• Temporomandibular joint (TMJ)