The cricothyroid ligament is the larger part of the laryngeal membrane, continuing inferiorly as a median or anterior part and twin lateral ligaments. The median cricothyroid ligament is a flat band of white tissue joining the cricoid and thyroid cartilages, while the lateral cricothyroid ligament is also known as the cricothyroid membrane (also called conus elasticus).

Details from Gray's anatomy

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The cricothyroid membrane is composed mainly of yellow elastic tissue. It consists of an anterior and two lateral portions.

Anterior

The anterior part or middle cricothyroid ligament (ligamentum cricothyreoideum medium; central part of cricothyroid membrane) is thick and strong, narrow above and broad below.

It connects together the front parts of the contiguous margins of the thyroid and cricoid cartilages. It is overlapped on either side by the Cricothyreoideus, but between these is subcutaneous; it is crossed horizontally by a small anastomotic arterial arch, formed by the junction of the two cricothyroid arteries, branches of which pierce it.

Lateral

The lateral portions are thinner and lie close under the mucous membrane of the larynx; they extend from the superior border of the cricoid cartilage to the inferior margin of the vocal ligaments, with which they are continuous.

These ligaments may therefore be regarded as the free borders of the lateral portions of the conus elasticus, and extend from the vocal processes of the arytenoid cartilages to the angle of the thyroid cartilage about midway between its upper and lower borders.

See also

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• cricothyroid muscle