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This case report outlines an absence of the left inferior thyroid artery, highlighting the compensatory role of the thyroid ima artery.
Abstract Here, we report an anatomical variation of the left inferior thyroid artery in a male cadaver during routine neck dissection. The left inferior thyroid artery was absent and replaced by the thyroid ima artery. The thyroid ima artery formed a U-shaped course and gave branches to the lower part of the thyroid gland. In addition, the thyroid ima artery arose from the brachiocephalic trunk. Furthermore, the branch of the thyroid ima artery ascended parallel to the left recurrent laryngeal nerve. There was no anatomical variation of the right inferior thyroid artery.
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Xu et al. (2025) studied this question.
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