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Anterior triangle of neck

© Yasser Anathallee

When doing head and neck anatomy, one of the first things one learns to describe about the neck are the subdivisions of the triangles of the neck. In all anatomy books the anterior and posterior triangles are described, with drawings and even dissection pictures. Up till now, no big deal; the illustrations are of great help. But just when things start to get a little bit more complicated with the subdivisions of the anterior triangle of the neck, I find that drawings, which I consider the most important element in understanding anatomy, are most of the time missing. In this article I will some drawings which may help in grasping the fundamentals of the boundaries of the anterior triangles.

The anterior triangle is bounded by:

• Anterior medial line of the neck
• Anterior border of the sternocleidomastoid muscle
• Inferior border of the mandible (and a line extending from the angle of the mandible to the mastoid process)

The anterior triangle can be schematically represented as in the following drawing:

The subdivisions of the anterior triangle are:

• Submental triangle (unpaired)
• Submandibular triangle (paired)
• Carotid triangle (paired)
• Muscular triangle (paired)

Boundaries of the submental triangle:

• Anterior bellies (right and left) of the digastric muscle
• Body of hyoid bone

Boundaries of the submandibular triangle:

• Anterior and posterior bellies of the digastric muscle
• Inferior border of the mandible

Boundaries of the carotid triangle:

• Posterior belly of digastric muscle
• Anterior border of sternocleidomastoid muscle
• Superior belly of omohyoid muscle

Boundaries of the muscular triangle:

• Superior belly of omohyoid muscle
• Anterior border of the sternocleidomastoid muscle
• Anterior medial line of the neck

Reference: - Moore KL, Clinically Oriented Anatomy, ed 3. Williams & Wilkins (1992)

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