Muscular system · Head and neck
Sternohyoid !
The sternohyoid is a strap muscle at the front of the neck, from the breastbone to the hyoid bone; it pulls the hyoid down after swallowing.
Official name: Sternohyoid muscle
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What it is
A strap muscle from the breastbone to the hyoid.
What it does
Pulls the hyoid down after swallowing.
Key facts
- Origin
- Manubrium and medial clavicle
- Insertion
- Body of the hyoid
- Action
- Depresses the hyoid
- Nerve
- Ansa cervicalis (C1–C3)
- Blood supply
- Superior thyroid artery
Relations
- Superficial
- Investing cervical fascia, anterior jugular vein, platysma and skin; the sternocleidomastoid covers its lower end
- Deep
- Sternothyroid and thyrohyoid, then the thyroid gland, larynx and trachea
- Lateral
- Superior belly of the omohyoid
- Medial
- Its partner across the midline raphe
How to find it
Not seen on its own: in a thin neck the strap muscles make a soft band on each side of the midline, from the sternum to the hyoid bone. In thyroid surgery it is the first strap reached after opening the midline raphe.
On imaging
On neck ultrasound and CT it is the most superficial thin band in front of the thyroid, on each side of the midline, with the sternothyroid just deep to it. Thyroid ultrasound reads the strap muscles as the front border of the gland: a cancer that grows through the capsule into them (gross extrathyroidal extension) must be reported because it raises the stage.
Clinical notes
- Strap muscles are separated in the midline to reach the thyroid gland; a large goitre or an invading cancer may require dividing them or removing them with the gland
- The ansa cervicalis branch to the sternohyoid can be joined to the recurrent laryngeal nerve to restore tone to a paralysed vocal fold
- Its upper attachment can serve as the pedicle of a sternohyoid muscle flap, used in some repairs of the larynx and upper trachea
Development
The strap muscles arise from a premuscle mass continuous with that of the tongue, entered early by the upper cervical nerves; it starts at the side of the neck and moves toward the midline as the heart descends, hence the ansa cervicalis supply.
Test yourself
Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.
What is the nerve supply of the sternohyoid?
The ansa cervicalis (C1–C3).
Why are the strap muscles, including the sternohyoid, divided high when they must be cut?
The ansa cervicalis enters their lower part, so a high division spares the nerve supply.
What is the usual surgical entry between the two sternohyoids for thyroidectomy and tracheostomy?
The pale midline fascial line (raphe) where the two sternohyoids meet.
Educational information, not medical advice. For any symptom, see a health professional.
Its names
- Official Latin (TA2)
- musculus sternohyoideus TA2 2168
- Official Spanish (DeCS)
- Músculo esternohioideo
- English (TA2)
- Sternohyoid muscle
Related
Sources: Terminologia Anatomica (TA2); Anatomy, Head and Neck, Sternohyoid Muscle; Anatomy, Head and Neck: Anterior Cervical Region; Anatomy of the Human Body (20th ed.): Development of the Muscles (Lea & Febiger (Gray's Anatomy, 1918), 1918) · adapted, Public domain.
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Representative model, for educational purposes only.
