Thyroid cartilage

Study entry

Parts

The largest of the cartilages of the larynx; its upper border lies in front of vertebra C4. The lower two thirds of the two shield-like laminae fuse in front in the median plane and form the laryngeal prominence (Adam's apple); above it the laminae diverge and form the superior thyroid notch, V-shaped; the inferior notch is a slight cleft in the center of the lower border. The posterior border of each lamina projects into a superior horn and an inferior horn. The upper border and the superior horns attach to the hyoid by the thyrohyoid membrane, whose thick middle part is the median thyrohyoid ligament and the lateral parts, the lateral ones.

Joints

The inferior horns articulate with the lateral surfaces of the cricoid cartilage at the cricothyroid joints, where rotation and gliding change the length of the vocal folds.

Palpation

The laryngeal prominence is well marked in men and rarely visible in women.

Source: cap. 9, «Esqueleto laríngeo»

Other structures in this region

• Cricoid cartilage
• Arytenoid, corniculate and cuneiform cartilages
• Epiglottis (epiglottic cartilage)
• Membranes and ligaments of the larynx (conus elasticus and quadrangular membrane)
• Frontal bone
• Parietal bone
• Occipital bone
• Temporal bone