Unusual variation of the hyoid bone: bilateral absence of lesser cornua and abnormal bone attachment to the corpus

Abstract

The hyoid bone is a horseshoe-shaped and a solitary bone located at the neck just above the thyroid cartilage. It consists of a body, two greater cornua and two lesser cornua. In this report, we demonstrated an extra bone variation which is attached to the hyoid bone and located at the left side of its corpus. In addition to this abnormal bone attachment to the corpus, lesser cornua were absent bilaterally. Abnormal bone attachment was approximately 3.79-cm long and 0.38-0.50-cm wide and heads toward the upper left of the hyoid bone. We believe that clinicians should be aware of such abnormalities of the hyoid bone because of the functional and clinical importance of its variations and abnormal relations within nearby structures. These abnormalities have a great importance for the surgical operations and radiological studies of the neck region and for the forensic medicine because of the susceptibility of the hyoid bone to the fractures in relation to the strangulation cases.

The development of the human hyoid–larynx complex revisited

“…(A) Lateral view of a schematic representation of the normal anatomy of the adult neck region including anatomical annotations. (B) The current opinion of the division of the neck region in five pharyngeal arch zones, depicting the origin of each component of the hyoid–larynx complex . (C) Proposed view on the development of the hyoid–larynx complex.…”

“…As part of the viscerocranium, the hyoid bone is a solitary horseshoe‐shaped bone in the anterior midline of the neck, just above the thyroid cartilage, to which it is connected with the medial and lateral thyrohyoid ligaments . The hyoid bone consists of a body and two paired processes, the lesser and greater horns .…”

“…As part of the viscerocranium, the hyoid bone is a solitary horseshoe‐shaped bone in the anterior midline of the neck, just above the thyroid cartilage, to which it is connected with the medial and lateral thyrohyoid ligaments . The hyoid bone consists of a body and two paired processes, the lesser and greater horns . The lesser and greater horns are normally united to the quadrilateral shaped hyoid bone body by fibrous tissue or a true joint, which may become ankylosed later in life .…”

“…Ankylosis is a physiological process that progresses with age . Morphological variations of the hyoid bone are closely related to sex, race, body proportions (weight and length), and age . Multiple variations can be found in the same person, and variations can occur either unilaterally or bilaterally, and even absence of the hyoid bone has been reported .…”

“…Multiple variations can be found in the same person, and variations can occur either unilaterally or bilaterally, and even absence of the hyoid bone has been reported . Hyoid abnormalities have been related to other clinical conditions such as Pierre Robin sequence, micrognathia, and cleft lip and palate cases …”