Anatomy study note · Head and neck

Cricoid cartilage

A signet-ring-shaped cartilage below the thyroid cartilage — the only complete ring in the airway — with a broad lamina behind and a narrow arch in front.

Key points

• Only complete cartilage ring.
• Signet ring: lamina behind.
• C6 level.
• Laryngeal cartilages: 4th and 6th arches.
• Cricoid cartilage: hyaline.
• Hyaline cartilage: type II collagen, perichondrium, avascular.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Histology · Development

Sign in free to see it on the 3D model, read the full note and practise questions on it.

Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 12, PDF pp. 1751, 1780; ch. 5, PDF p. 561
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 9, PDF p. 125; ch. 14, PDF p. 208
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 7, PDF pp. 117–120; ch. 15, PDF p. 270

More from the head and neck

• Cricothyroid
• Deep cervical lymph nodes
• Digastric
• Dura mater
• Dural venous sinuses
• Epiglottis
• Ethmoid
• External carotid artery
• External ear
• External jugular vein
• External nose
• Eyelids and conjunctiva

Privacy policy · Designed by DATXOC LLC.