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

pharynx The pharynx (plural: pharynges) is the part of the throat behind the mouth and nasal cavity, and above the oesophagus and trachea (the tubes going down to the stomach and the lungs). It is found in vertebrates and invertebrates, though its struc ...

between the cricopharyngeus and thyropharyngeus which are the two parts of the inferior constrictors(also see Pharyngeal pouch). It can be seen as a locus minoris resistentiae. Similar triangular area between circular fibres of cricopharyngeus and longitudinal fibres of 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 A Zenker's diverticulum, also pharyngeal pouch, is a diverticulum of the mucosa of the human pharynx, just above the cricopharyngeal muscle (i.e. above the upper sphincter of the esophagus). It is a pseudo diverticulum (not involving all layers of ...

) 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 German laryngologist and founder of the bronchoscopy. Life and death His father Johann Baptist Caesar Killian (1820–1889), the son of a ''städtischen Wegeaufsehers'' an urban way overseer, ...

References

Human head and neck Otorhinolaryngology {{anatomy-stub