Imaging Anatomy of Cervical Space

Abstract

Cervical region contains the common carotid artery and its branches, jugular vein and vagus nerve posterior to carotid sheath. Cervical region is divided into hyoid bone upper and lower parts by hyoid bone, with thyroid cartilage, sternocleidomastoid, manubrium, and clavicle as main body surface symbols, and mandible, hyoid bone, thyroid cartilage, cricoid cartilage, cervical vertebra, and sternocleidomastoid as main imaging anatomic landmarks. The cervical fascia is divided into superficial and deep cervical fascia. The superficial cervical fascia, which is composed of subcutaneous tissue and platysma muscle, surrounds the whole neck. Deep cervical fascia is divided into superficial layer (cover layer), middle layer (visceral layer), and deep layer (perivertebral layer), wherein twelve main cervical spaces are constituted, namely, sublingual space, submandibular space, buccal space, submasseteric space, carotid artery space, posterior cervical space, parotid gland space, pharyngeal mucosa space, parapharyngeal space, retropharyngeal space, viscera space and prevertebral (paravertebral space). Among them, some cervical spaces overlap with maxillofacial region. Cervical region is relevant to the development of branchial arch and branchial sac, so it is prone to occur congenital diseases, such as branchial cleft cyst and lymphatic vessel cyst. Besides, owing to rich lymphatic drainage in head and neck, wherein lymph nodes across the whole body are gathered, the region is more likely to occur inflammation, infection, and tumor metastasis, thus resulting in enlargement of cervical lymph nodes.