Pyriform sinus

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Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". The pyriform sinus (also piriform recess, piriform sinus, piriform fossa, or smuggler's fossa) is a small recess on either side of the laryngeal inlet. It is bounded medially by the aryepiglottic fold, and laterally by the thyroid cartilage and thyrohyoid membrane.[1] The fossae are involved in speech.

Etymology

The term "pyriform," which means "pear-shaped," is also sometimes spelled "piriform".Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

The term smuggler's fossa comes from its use for smuggling of small items.[2]

Structure

Relations

Deep to the mucous membrane of the pyriform fossa lie the recurrent laryngeal nerve as well as the internal laryngeal nerve, a branch of the superior laryngeal nerve.[3] The internal laryngeal nerve supplies sensation to the area, and it may become damaged if the mucous membrane is inadvertently punctured. The pyriform sinus is a subsite of the hypopharynx. This distinction is important for head and neck cancer staging and treatment.[4]

Clinical significance

This sinus is a common place for food particles to become trapped; if foreign material becomes lodged in the piriform fossa of an infant, it may be retrieved nonsurgically. If the area is injured (e.g., by a fish bone), it can give the sensation of food stuck in the subject's throat.[2]

Remnants of the pharyngeal pouches III and IV may extent to the piriform sinus as sinus tracts which are sometimes imprecisely called "fistulas".[5][6] This can result in acute infectious thyroiditis which is more common on the left side of the neck.[7]

References

Public domain This article incorporates text in the public domain from Template:Wikidatathe 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

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  3. Moore, K.L., & Agur, A.M.R (2007). Essential Clinical Anatomy: Third Edition. Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Template:ISBN
  4. AJCC Cancer Staging Handbook: From the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual, Sixth Edition. Ed. Frederick L. Greene, M.D. page 48.
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External links

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