THE BLOOD SUPPLY OF THE TRACHEA IN CHINESE / 解剖学报

ABSTRACT

The blood supply of the trachea was studied in 100 Chinese cadavers. The trachea is supplied constantly by the inferior thyroid, the bronchial, the superior thyroid and the esophageal arteries, inconstantly by the subclavian (14.5%?3.52), the thyroidea ima (12%?3.25), the costocervical trunks or the superior intercostal (8.5%?2.79), the internal thoracic (6.5%?2.47), the vertebral (2.5%?1.56) and rarely by the thyrocervical trunks (1%?0.99), the innominate (1%?0.99), the aortic arch (0.5%?0.71), the right superficial inferior thyroid (0.5%?0.71) or the right suprascapular artery (0.5%?0.71). The diameters of the tracheal arteries in the adult ranged from 0.2 to 2.1 mm and more than 50% of them exceeded 0.6mm.On passing through the lateral pedicles of the trachea, the segmental tracheal branches divide frequently into tracheal and esophageal arteries. The course of the tracheal arteries and their relations with the recurrent laryngeal nerves and the trunk of the right vagus nerve were observed.There are abundant arterial anastomoses around the trachea. The segmental tracheal arteries branch and run upward and downward on the lateral aspects of the trachea, and connect with the tracheal arteries from above and below. A lateral longitudinal anastomosis of 0.1～0.5 mm in diameter was found in 63.3%?8.80 of 30 cases. Arising from the lateral longitudinal anastomoses, the intercartilaginous arteries of both sides run anteriorly and medially, anastomose with each other and establish anteriorly a collateral circulation between two sides of the trachea. In the lateral pedicles the tracheal branches connect with the branches from above and below to form the paratracheal longitudinal anastomoses, enforcing the collateral circulation of the lateral longitudinal anastomoses. The posterior tracheal wall is supplied by the posterior transverse intercartilaginous arteries and the membranous twigs, which derive from the tracheal and esophageal arteries. They form a netlike anastomosis from one level to another in the posterior tracheal wall. The rich anastomoses in and around the thyroid gland and the upper end of the trachea supplement the circulation to the cervical trachea. The wide anastomoses around the thoracic trachea, extra-pulmonary bronchi and the paracarinal nodes supplement the collateral circulation between the arteries of the upper thoracic trachea and the bronchial arteries.The clinical importances of the topographical characteristics, the course and distribution of the tracheal arteries were discussed.