Ligament · Neck

Cricotracheal ligament

Ligamentum cricotracheale

A broad, short fibrous band joining the lower edge of the cricoid cartilage to the first ring of the windpipe. It is the join between larynx and trachea, and it is built like the annular ligaments that link one tracheal ring to the next — the voice box is fastened to the airway below by a continuation of the airway's own pattern. This is also the handover point in the airway's construction: the cricoid is the only complete ring anywhere in it, and below this ligament the rings become the C-shaped, flexible cartilages of the trachea.