Killian's dehiscence (also known as Killian's triangle) is a triangular area in the wall of the

pharynx The pharynx (: pharynges) is the part of the throat behind the human mouth, mouth and nasal cavity, and above the esophagus and trachea (the tubes going down to the stomach and the lungs respectively). It is found in vertebrates and invertebrates ...

between the cricopharyngeus (upper esophageal sphincter (UES)) and thyropharyngeus (Inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscle) which are the two parts of the inferior constrictors (also see Pharyngeal pouch). It can be seen as a locus minoris resistentiae. A similar triangular area between circular fibres of the cricopharyngeus and longitudinal fibres of the esophagus is Lamier's triangle or Lamier-hackermann's area.

Clinical significance

It represents a potentially weak spot where a pharyngoesophageal diverticulum ( Zenker's diverticulum) is more likely to occur.

Eponym

It is named after the German ENT surgeon

Gustav Killian Gustav Killian (2 June 1860 – 24 February 1921) was a Germans, German Laryngology, laryngologist and founder of the bronchoscopy. Life and death His father Johann Baptist Caesar Killian (1820–1889), the son of a ''städtischen Wegeaufsehers'' a ...

References

Human head and neck Otorhinolaryngology {{anatomy-stub