Abstract
It seems to be a rule in anatomy that the vascular network of a given organ presents a pattern adequate to the function of the organ. The vocal fold has a specific layered structure which is adequate to vibration. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the vascular network of the vocal fold from a view point of phonatory function.
Radio opaque medium was injected via the bilateral common carotid artery in the laryngeal vessels of canines. After the larynx was excised and fixed, Softex contact microradiography was performed on specimens which were cut in a sagittal, horizontal or frontal plane.
For observations of the most peripheral capillaries, Indian ink was injected in the vessels and the specimens were examined under a microscope. Although these techniques work the best with living aminals, Softex contact micrography was applied also to some larynges of human cadavers.
The most significant finding was the fact that the blood vessels of the mucosa around the edge of the vocal fold are clearly seperated from those of the muscle. They come in almost exclusively from either the anterior or the posterior ends of the vocal fold. Only in the posterior part of the human vocal fold, there are some vessels which come in the mucosa from those of the underlying structure. Furthermore, there are many direct anastomoses of arterioles and venoles in the mucosa around the edge of the vocal fold. These patterns of the vessels of the mucosa around the edge are very specific to this area which moves most markedly during vibration.
