Thyroid dysgenesis thyroid gland may be located anywhere along the path of the descent of the thyroid during its embryological development, although it is most commonly located at the base of the tongue, just posterior to the foramen cecum of the tongue. In this location, an aberrant or ectopic thyroid gland is known as a "lingual thyroid". If the thyroid fails to descend to even higher degree, then the resulting final resting point of the thyroid gland may be high in the neck, such as just below the hyoid bone. Parts of ectopic thyroid tissue ("accessory thyroid tissue") can also occur, and
Thyroid ima artery thyroid artery. In rare cases, the artery has been seen to be compensating for absence of one or both superior thyroid arteries. In cases where the length of the thyroid ima artery is shorter, the artery ends by supplying the thymus gland and is known as "thymica accessoria". When present, the thyroid ima's chief supply is the thyroid gland, though it also supplies the trachea. The artery may extend and supply the parathyroid glands. An infrequently observed artery, it is more frequently reported in the context of enlarged parathyroid glands (parathyroid adenomas). The artery ends by supplying the thyroid gland,