Viscera (heart, lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract)
Superior parathyroid glands
Glandula parathyroidea superior
- Origin
- Small paired endocrine glands on the posterior capsule of the thyroid lobes at the level of the lower border of the cricoid cartilage
- Insertion
- Derived from the 4th pharyngeal pouch; situated posterior to the recurrent laryngeal nerve
- Function
- Synthesizes and secretes parathyroid hormone (PTH) to raise serum calcium via osteoclast activation, renal calcium reabsorption, and renal 1-alpha-hydroxylase stimulation
- Innervation
- Cervical sympathetic ganglia
- Movement & chain
- Moves with the thyroid capsule
- Palpation
- Not palpable
- Clinical
- Primary hyperparathyroidism (single parathyroid adenoma causing hypercalcemia, nephrolithiasis, osteoporosis, peptic ulcer), secondary hyperparathyroidism in CKD.
- Segmental innervation
- C5-C7 levels
- In clinical practice
- Serum calcium and intact PTH monitoring, intraoperative PTH (ioPTH) assay tracking during minimally invasive parathyroidectomy
- Region in the model
- Viscera (heart, lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract)