Morphometric Examination of the Larynx in Turkish Population

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to measure laryngeal dimensions in a sample of Turkish cadavers, including males and females of various ages and heights.

Materials and methods: Morphological measurement was performed on 102 laryngeal specimens. Hyoid bone and laryngeal cartilages were removed from human cadavers. All dimensions of the cartilages were measured using a thread and vernier calipers. Age, sex, and height were recorded. All the parameters for male and female were compared. Statistical comparisons were made using Student's t test and Pearson's correlation.

Results: The following measurements were significantly greater in males than in females: length of the greater horn of hyoid bone (P < 0.05) and hyoid body heights (P < 0.001), length and width of epiglottis (P < 0.001), transversal and anteroposterior diameters, and anterior and posterior height of the cricoid (P < 0.01). The dimensions of male and female thyroid cartilages differed significantly (P < 0.001). Age was not significantly correlated with any parameter tested. Height showed weakly significant positive correlations with hyoid body height, epiglottis height, lateral and anteroposterior diameters of the cricoid, posterior height of the cricoid, thyroid superior horn length, lamina breadth, and anterior height.

Conclusion: Mean measurements were significantly greater in males than in females. However, there were no significant correlations between age and any parameter examined. Weakly significant positive correlations were observed between height and hyoid bone and laryngeal cartilage measurements. This study is the first cadaver study to investigate epiglottis, cricoid and thyroid cartilage, and hyoid bone measurements in the Turkish adult population with such a large sample size.

Keywords: Cadaver study; Laryngeal morphometry; Larynx; Turkish population.