Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Considerations on the origin of the inferior thyroid artery emerging from the subclavian artery determined by CT examination

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose and background

The specialized literature has a low degree of information regarding the origin of the inferior thyroid artery (ITA). Our study was performed on computed tomography angiographies (CTAs), and the following aspects were observed: the origin of the ITA from the subclavian artery (SCA) or thyrocervical trunk (TCT), taking note of the distance of the origin of the ITA in relation to the origin of the SCA or the corresponding TCT, as well as the origin of the ITA, comparing right to left and according to gender.

Methods

Our study was realized on a total of 108 ITA (64 on the right side and 44 on the left, with 48 in male subjects and 60 in females), analyzed on CTA.

Results

From the 108 arteries, we found the origin of ITA directly from the SCA in 31.48% of cases, and in 68.52% from the TCT. The distance between the origin of the right SCA and the origin of the corresponding ITA, was between 29.1 and 53.1 mm, while on the left side, the same distance was between 43.7 and 68.1 mm. The distance between the right TCT and the origin of the right SCA, was between 22.5 and 75.0 mm, and for the left side, it’s between 48.7 and 56.8 mm.

Conclusions

The inferior thyroid artery is one of the arteries most susceptible to variations in terms of origin and size. With differences between the two sides (right and left), as well as differences related to gender.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Availability of data and materials

The data presented in this study are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Abbreviations

CTA:

Computed tomography angiography

ITA:

Inferior thyroid artery

SCA:

Subclavian artery

TCT:

Thyrocervical trunk

References

  1. Tsegay AT, Berhe T, Amdeslase F, Hayelom H (2019) Variations on arterial supply of thyroid gland and its clinical significance in selected universities of North Ethiopia. Int J Anat Res 7(3.2):6830–6834

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bergman RA, Afifi AK, Miyauchi R (2011) Inferior thyroid artery. Illustrated encyclopedia of human anatomic variation: Opus II: cardiovascular system arteries head, neck and thorax. p 26

  3. Bouchet A, Cuilleret J (1991) Anatomie topographique, descriptive et topographique. 2. Le cou. Le thorax. Ed. Simep, Paris, pp 715–717

  4. Chandrakala SP, Mamatha Y, Thejaswini KO (2013) Variations in the origin of inferior thyroid artery and relation of the artery with recurrent laryngeal nerve. NJCA 2(1):11–15

    Google Scholar 

  5. Esen K, Ozgur A, Balci Y, Tok S, Kara E (2018) Variations in the origins of the thyroid arteries on CT angiography. Jpn J Radiol 36:96–102

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Graves MJ, Brandon MH, Sanna B, Pękala P, Taterra D, Witczak K, Kucharska E, Barczyński M, Walocha J, Tomaszewsk K (2017) Anatomical variations of the inferior thyroid artery: a cadaveric examination. Przegląd Lekarski 74(12):633–635

    Google Scholar 

  7. Lippert H, Pabst R (1985) Subclavian artery. Inferior thyroid artery. Arterial variations in man. Classification and frecquence. J.F. Bergmann Verlag, München, pp 78–82

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Magoma G et al (2012) Origin of thyroid arteries in a Kenyan population. Ann Afr Surg 9:50–54

    Google Scholar 

  9. Paturet G (1958) Artѐre sousclaviѐre. In: Tome III (ed) Traite d’anatomie humaine. Masson, Paris, pp 363–427

    Google Scholar 

  10. Rimi KR, Ara S, Hossain M, Shefyetullah KM, Naushaba H, Bose BK (2009) Postmortem study of thyroid arteries in bangladeshi people. Bangladesh J Anat 7(1):26–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Rohlich K (1940) Uber den Trunkus thyroecervicalis des Menschen. Anat Anz 10(12):129–148

    Google Scholar 

  12. Roshan S, Pandey N, Bhivate V, Kharate RP (2015) Morphometric study of inferior thyroid artery in cadavers. Int J Anat Res 3(4):1726–1731

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Rouviѐre H, Delmas A (1997) Artѐre sous-claviѐre. In: Tȇte et cou, (ed) Anatomie humaine Descriptive, topographique et fonctionnelle, tome 1. Masson, Paris, pp 215–225

  14. Sherman JH, Colborn GL (2003) Absence of the left inferior thyroid artery: clinical implications. Clin Anat 16:534–537

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Takkallapalli Anitha et al. (2015) Clinically relevant variations of the thyroid arteries. J Chalmeda Anand Rao Inst Med Sci 5(1)

  16. Testut L (1924) Artère sous-clavière. In: Traité d’Anatomie humaine. Tome deuxième. Angéiologie Ed. Gaston Doin, Paris, pp 569–583

  17. Toni R, Della Casa C, Castorina S, Roti E, Ceda VG (2005) A meta-analysis of inferior thyroid artery variations in different human ethnic groups and their clinical implications. Ann Anat Anat Anz 187:371–385

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. “Ovidius” University, Constanţa, Romania

    Maria Cristina Bunea, Lavinia Maria Rusali, Iulian Cătălin Bratu & Petru Bordei

  2. “Titu Maiorescu” University, Bucharest, Romania

    Sorin Tudorache

Authors
  1. Maria Cristina Bunea
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lavinia Maria Rusali
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Iulian Cătălin Bratu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sorin Tudorache
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Petru Bordei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

MCB, PB: Protocol/project development. MCB, ICB: Data collection or management. MCB, ST, LMR, PB: Data analysis. MCB: Manuscript writing/editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Cristina Bunea.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The study has the accord of the local Ethics Commission (34490/08.08.2019) within the institution of “Sf. Apostol Andrei” Clinical County Emergency Hospital from Constanța and respects the principles of the General Regulation on Personal Data Protection (EU) 679/2016. The research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration and in compliance with all relevant national regulations regarding patient studies. Also, informed consent was obtained from the patients.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bunea, M.C., Rusali, L.M., Bratu, I.C. et al. Considerations on the origin of the inferior thyroid artery emerging from the subclavian artery determined by CT examination. Surg Radiol Anat 45, 721–727 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-023-03140-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-023-03140-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation