Thyro-epiglottic ligament at a glance
- What it is
- The thyro-epiglottic ligament is a band connecting the epiglottis to the thyroid cartilage.
- Location
- It runs from the stalk (petiole) of the epiglottis to the inner surface of the thyroid cartilage, just below the superior thyroid notch.
- Function
- It anchors the epiglottis to the thyroid cartilage.
- Body system
- Respiratory · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA55230 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- It attaches the narrow stalk (petiole) of the epiglottis, so the epiglottis can tilt backward over the laryngeal inlet while its stalk stays fixed.
- The pre-epiglottic space lies in front of it, a route by which laryngeal cancers can spread.
Structures next to the thyro-epiglottic ligament
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Vocal ligament · respiratory
- Vocalis · muscular
- Thyroid cartilage · respiratory
- Median thyrohyoid ligament · respiratory
- Thyro-arytenoid · muscular
- Conus elasticus · respiratory
- Thyrohyoid · respiratory
- Hyo-epiglottic ligament · respiratory
- Epiglottis · respiratory
- Cuneiform cartilage · respiratory
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Thyro-epiglottic ligament (FMA55230). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §22.1 Organs and Structures of the Respiratory System. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.