Viscera (heart, lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract)
Inferior parathyroid glands
Glandula parathyroidea inferior
- Origin
- Paired glands located near the inferior poles of the thyroid lobes
- Insertion
- Derived from the 3rd pharyngeal pouch with the thymus; situated anterior to the recurrent laryngeal nerve (frequently ectopic in the thymus or anterior mediastinum)
- Function
- Secretes parathyroid hormone (PTH) to regulate systemic calcium homeostasis
- Innervation
- Cervical sympathetic chain
- Movement & chain
- Moves with thyroid capsule
- Palpation
- Not palpable
- Clinical
- Ectopic parathyroid adenomas frequently originate from inferior glands due to longer embryological descent. Post-thyroidectomy hypoparathyroidism.
- Segmental innervation
- C5-C7 levels
- In clinical practice
- Pre-operative 99mTc-Sestamibi SPECT scan localization, acute IV calcium gluconate administration for severe post-op tetany
- Region in the model
- Viscera (heart, lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract)