Anatomy study note · Head and neck

Thyroid gland

An endocrine gland in the front of the neck: two pear-shaped lobes joined by an isthmus, enclosed in a sheath from the pretracheal fascia that binds it to the larynx and trachea.

Key points

• Two lobes + isthmus over tracheal rings 2–4.
• Pretracheal fascia sheath → moves on swallowing.
• Superior thyroid a. (ECA) + inferior thyroid a. (thyrocervical).
• External laryngeal n. with superior a.; recurrent laryngeal n. with inferior a.
• Thyroid: thyroglossal duct from the pharyngeal floor (foramen caecum).
• Parafollicular cells: caudal pharyngeal complex (4th/5th pouches).
• Follicles: follicular cells around colloid (thyroglobulin) → T4, T3.
• Parafollicular (C) cells → calcitonin.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Location · Relations · Features · Blood supply · Venous drainage · Nerve supply · Lymph drainage · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 12, PDF pp. 1811–1815
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 9, PDF pp. 129–133
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 13, PDF pp. 239–243

More from the head and neck

• Tongue
• Trigeminal nerve
• Trochlear nerve
• Veins of the face and scalp
• Ventricles of the brain
• Vertebral and basilar arteries
• Vestibulocochlear nerve
• Vitreous body
• Zygomatic bone
• Abducens nerve
• Accessory nerve
• Anterior cerebral artery

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