Agenesis of the superior cornua of the thyroid cartilage: a rare variant of medicolegal importance.
It is important that forensic pathologists are familiar with variations in the size and shape of the laryngohyoid complex when interpreting injuries and pathology of the head and neck region. Accurate postmortem examination of the laryngohyoid structures may be difficult if anatomical variation in these structures is present. Agenesis of the upper horns of the thyroid cartilage has medicolegal significance because it may be mistaken for a fracture or other trauma-related conditions. We present 3 cases with different forms of agenesis of the superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage, namely, right unilateral, left unilateral, and bilateral agenesis.
From the *Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Prague; †University Hospital Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic; ‡Institute of Legal Medicine and Medico-legal Expertises, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Martin, Slovakia; and §Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
Petr
P
Hejna
Martin
M
Janík
Petra
P
Urbanová
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013957:Thyroid Cartilage / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000473:pathology