The parathyroid artery.

Each parathyroid gland is supplied by a single individual artery, the parathyroid artery. Although discovered over 80 years ago, this fact has been ignored in anatomic texts and angiographic literature. The origin and length of the parathyroid artery very with the location of parathyroid tissue. If the parathyroid tissue is located posterior or caudal to the thyroid gland in the lower neck or mediastinum, the parathyroid artery arises as a prominent proximal branch of the inferior thyroidal artery. In this situation it is easily recognizable angiographically and can be useful in identifying low-lying parathyroid lesions. Of 35 angiograms obtained in 19 patients, the parathyroid artery supply in another low cervical and a mediastinal lesion. In two lesions, one of which was intrathyroidal, the blood supply was indeterminate. The parathyroid artery was recognized in eight of nine low cervical or mediastinal parathyroid lesions, but only in four of 10 lesions at or above the thyroid level. The parathyroid artery does not contribute to thyroidal blood supply.