Anatomía quirúrgica del drenaje venoso en la región del triángulo carotídeo / Surgical anatomy of jugular vein tributaries

Background: The main tributaries of the internal jugular vein join at cervical level through the venous thyrolinguofacial trunk. This trunk is classically described as formed by the union of the facial, superior thyroid and lingual veins. Aim: To evaluate variations in the formation of the thyrolinguofacial trunk in human cadavers. Material and Methods: Thirty hemi-necks were dissected in human cadavers of nine men and six women, with ages ranging between 29 and 50 years, and analyzed by direct observation. Results: In 16 hemi-necks (53.3 percent), the trunk was thyrolinguofacial; in seven (23.3 percent), it was linguofacial; in six (20 percent), it was thyrolingual and in one case (3.3 percent) it was thyrolinguo pharyngofacial. No thyrofacial trunk formation was found. There was a correlation between the diameter of the internal jugular vein and of the venous trunk formed by these veins. Conclusions: There are morphological changes in the formation patterns of facial, lingual and superior thyroid veins. This information is useful for surgical oncology, plastic surgery, head and neck surgery and radiology.

Los principales afluentes de la vena yugular interna se incorporan a nivel cervical por medio del tronco venoso tirolinguofacial. Clásicamente se ha descrito su formación por la unión de la vena facial, lingual y tiroidea superior. El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar las variaciones en la presentación del tronco tirolinguofacial en cadáveres humanos de la región del Maule, Chile. Se disecaron 30 hemicuellos pertenecientes a 15 cadáveres humanos de ambos sexos, con un rango de edad entre 29 y 50 años, y se analizaron mediante observación directa. Se observó la formación de tronco venoso en la totalidad de los casos, siendo 53,3 por ciento correspondiente al tronco de tipo tirolinguofacial, 23,3 por ciento linguofacial, 20 por ciento tirolingual y sólo un 3,3 por ciento el tronco tirolinguofaringofacial. No se encontró la formación del tronco venoso de tipo tirofacial. Además se encontró una correlación significativa entre el diámetro de la vena yugular interna y el tronco venoso conformado por estas venas. Por lo tanto, existen variaciones morfológicas en los patrones de conformación de las venas facial, lingual y tiroidea superior, siendo estos datos de importancia para áreas de cirugía oncológica, cirugía plástica, cirugía de cabeza y cuello y radiología.

Aspectos macroscópicos da desembocadura das veias facial, lingual e tireóidea superior, na veia jugular interna / Macroscopic aspects of the discharge of facial, lingual and superior thyroid veins into the internal jugular vein

A veia jugular interna, no seu trajeto descendente no pescoço, recebe tributárias como a veia facial, a veia lingual e a veia tireóidea superior. As veias da cabeça e do pescoço se anastomosam livremente, promovendo, com freqüência, variações anatômicas na sua distribuição, até mesmo diferenças nos antímeros de um mesmo indivíduo. Essa grande tendência das veias de sofrerem variações anatômicas nos motivou a ampliar as investigações com relação à desembocadura das veias facial, lingual e tireóidea superior na veia jugular interna, promovendo a identificação desses vasos em peças anatômicas cadavéricas utilizadas nos laboratórios de ensino de anatomia humana. Para este trabalho, foram feitas observações macroscópicas, na forma da desembocadura das veias facial, lingual e tireóidea superior, na veia jugular interna, em 37 antímeros de cabeças humanas, fixadas em formol a 10%, sendo 11 cabeças com antímeros direito e esquerdo, 9 cabeças com antímero esquerdo e 6 cabeças com antímero direito. Nossos resultados mostraram que a veia jugular interna recebe as veias tributárias facial, lingual e tireóidea superior de maneira variada, sendo 51% com desembocadura direta dessas tributárias na veia jugular interna, 38% com formação de um tronco venoso curto, denominado tíreo-línguo-facial, e em apenas 11% a formação do tronco línguo-facial.

The internal jugular vein, in its descending course at the neck, receives tributaries among which there are: the facial vein, the lingual vein and the superior thyroid vein. The veins from the head and neck anastomose freely, and this frequently causes anatomical variations in their distribution even between the two antimeres of the same individual. This great tendency of the veins of displaying anatomical variations prompted us to widen the investigations concerning the discharge of facial, lingual and superior thyroid veins at the internal jugular vein by identifying these vessels in anatomic pieces used at the teaching laboratories of human anatomy. For this paper, macroscopic observations were made by opening the facial, lingual and superior thyroid veins into the internal jugular vein in 37 antimeres of human heads fixed in 10% formol solution: 11 heads with right and left antimeres, nine with left antimere and six with right antimere. Our results showed that the internal jugular vein receives drainage from the facial, lingual and superior thyroid vein in varied ways: in 51% of the instances, these tributaries open directly into the internal jugular vein, in 38% they form a short venous trunk named thyro-lingual-facial trunk and in only 11% there is a lingual-facial trunk.

Drenaje de las Venas Facial, Lingual y Tiroidea Superior en el Hombre / Drainage of Facial, Lingual and Superior Thyroid Veins in Humans

La gran diversidad de descripciones acerca de las afluencias de las venas facial, lingual y tiroidea superior en el hombre, estas presentan una serie de controversias entre los autores investigados. Buscando ofrecer un patrón para la formación de troncos venosos a partir de las referidas venas, los autores realizaron la disecación de 42 faces laterales del cuello de cadáveres humanos adultos, de ambos sexos, con edades variadas y fijados en formaldehido a 10%. Se observó la formación de troncos venosos en 59,5% de los casos, habiendo ocurrido formación del tronco tiroilingofacial en 38,1%, del tronco lingofacial en 14,2%, del tronco tiroilingual en 4,8% y del tronco tiroilingofaringofacial en apenas 2,4%. No fue encontrada la formación del tronco tiroifacial descrito en la literatura. En los 40,5% de los casos en los que no hubo formación de troncos venosos, las venas presentaron desembocaduras solitarias.

Despite the great diversity of descriptions concerning the inflows of the facial, lingual and superior thyroid veins in man, they present important controversies between the studied authors. Aiming to supply a pattern for the formation of venous trunks by the cited veins, the authors analyzed 42 lateral faces of dissected adult human cadavers of both genders, different ages and preserved in a 10% solution of formaldehyde. The study revealed the formation of venous trunks in 59,5% of the cases, the thyroid-lingual-facial trunk appears in 38,1%, the lingual-facial trunk in 14,2%, the thyroid-lingual trunk in 4,8% and the thyroid-lingual-pharyngeal-facial trunk in just 2,4%. It was not found the formation of thyroid-facial trunk described in the analyzed literature. 40,5% of the cases appears with no venous trunk formation, in those situations the veins end alone.