Superior thyroid vein

At a glance

English

Superior thyroid vein

Latin (TA2)

Vena thyroidea superior

System

Vein

Region

Neck

Side

Paired, left and right

About the superior thyroid vein

The thyroid gland is drained by three pairs of veins, and the superior thyroid vein is the highest of them. It forms from small veins in the substance of the upper part of the lobe and leaves the gland at its upper pole.

From there it travels upwards and laterally alongside the superior thyroid artery, on the surface of the inferior constrictor of the pharynx and the larynx. Along the way it receives the superior laryngeal vein, which comes out of the larynx through the thyrohyoid membrane with the superior laryngeal artery, and a small cricothyroid vein. It then crosses the common carotid artery to end in the internal jugular vein, or sometimes in the common facial vein. Unlike it, the middle thyroid vein runs without an artery to the internal jugular, and the inferior thyroid veins descend to the brachiocephalic veins.

In thyroid surgery the superior pole vessels are tied and divided early. The external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve, which supplies the cricothyroid muscle, runs close to them on the inferior constrictor, often just behind or among the vessels. Surgeons therefore tie the artery and vein individually and close to the gland, to avoid injuring this nerve and causing a weak, easily tired voice with loss of the higher notes. Slipping of a tie on these vessels is a cause of bleeding in the neck after the operation.

Course and drainage

Begins at

Upper pole of the lobe of the thyroid gland.

Drains into

Internal jugular vein, or sometimes the common facial vein.

Drains

Drains the upper part of the thyroid gland and, through its tributaries, the larynx.