Three variant thyroid arteries were found in a cadaver during routine dissection at the University of South Australia Human Anatomy cadaveric laboratory.
Three thyroid arteries were detected in the right side, two of them (superior and middle thyroid arteries) came off the right common carotid artery (CCA) and the third one (inferior thyroid artery) arose from the right thyrocervical trunk.
In the same specimen, the left superior thyroid artery (STA) had an unusual origin from the left thyrolingual trunk, which in turn originated as a branch of the left external carotid artery (ECA). The left and right inferior thyroid artery (ITA) showed a normal origin from the corresponding thyrocervical trunks.
