Tag: neck

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Fun Fact: External Jugular Vein

Anatomy def: The paired external jugular veins are superficial vessels draining blood from the exterior cranium (Anatomy Lesson #60 Let’s Mull the Skull!) and deep facial structures toward the heart.  

Outlander def: Large neck veins often increasing in diameter as blood pressure rises – think of  a hotly contested stramash, such as “I will marry him” vs. “no, ye will not!!!” The neck veins tend to stand out. <G>

Learn about the external jugular vein (EJV) in Anatomy Lesson #12, Claire’s Neck or The Ivory Tower.

Each EJV descends through the neck from the angle of mandible (lower jaw) to middle of the clavicle (collar bone), collecting blood from the outer skull and deep face.

Try this: Turn your neck to one side and look in a mirror.  Can you see a blue line stretching from the angle of your jaw to your clavicle? This is the EJV. If you have no luck, try looking at a friend or family member. These veins are not always visible so don’t despair if you canna located them. 

BTW, although veins appear blue or green under the skin, they are neither color. Various factors including light absorption, light scattering and reflection, less oxygen in venous blood and veins being closer to the surface all help account for this odd color change, an phenom known as the Tyndall effect.

Read about the EJV in Drums of Autumn book.  Here the character’s name is not disclosed as the TV show has yet to catch up with the book (hurry, S4!). But, book readers will ken who Claire is doctoring. The pulsing vein Diana describes, is, indeed, the EJV! 

I didn’t need to check his heart; his head was turned, and I could see the huge vein that ran down the side of his neck, throbbing with a pulse slow and heavy as a hammer blow. I touched him, feeling his skin cool and damp. No fever, no signs of shock. The whole of his enormous person radiated peace and well-being.

Now, wait a sec!!! Arteries pulse, but do veins pulse like arteries? Generally speaking, not that we can see.  However, the right EJV may show a pulse because it lies very close to the right atrium of the heart. Put simply, as the right atrium contracts, blood pressure in the EJV may be seen as a pulse. Hence, Diana’s description is accurate. Score!

See Marsali’s external jugular vein in Starz ep 309, The Doldrums. Pugnacious lass that she is, she casts her stepdad a defiant look.  She will have Fergus no matter what da says!

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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Photo Credit: Sony/Starz

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Fun Fact: axis

example of axis in human anatomy

Starz episode 313 Eye of the Storm

Anatomy def: The axis is the second cervical (C2) vertebra, situated near the top of spine but below the atlas (C1 vertebra). As the head rotates from side-to-side, skull and C1 pivot as a single unit around the axis.

Outlander def: Mistress Abernathy didna see Claire grab that machete! Else, her head would have twisted wildly from side-to-side, as in NO-NO (she is a twisted sista <G>)!  Claire, the surgeon, kens proper use of a blade. Here, “off with her head” takes on a whole new meaning!

Learn about the axis vertebra in Anatomy Lesson #53, Dr. Abernathy Meets Pretty Lady and also in Anatomy Lesson #12, Claire’s Neck or The Ivory Tower.

Read about the axis vertebra in Voyager book. Yes, Herself explains that a dull blade was used to hack through segments of the axis, removing pretty lady’s head! Here in Dr. Abernathy ’s office:

The wide body of the axis had a deep gouge; the posterior zygapophysis had broken clean off, and the fracture plane went completely through the centrum of the bone.

Joe’s finger moved over the line of the fracture plane. “See here? The bone’s not just cracked, it’s gone right there. Somebody tried to cut this lady’s head clean off. With a dull blade,” he concluded with relish. 

See Claire cleave off the witch’s head at the axis in Starz episode 313, Eye of the Storm. Two hundred years in the future, Claire and Geillis will meet again – when Mistress Abernathy is nothing more than “dem bones!”

A deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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FF Laryngeal Prominence

 

fun fact, image of jamie fraser's neck

Anatomy def: Throat bulge created by the laryngeal prominence, a hillock of cartilage belonging to laryngeal cartilages. Typically, larger in post-pubescent males than in females.

Outlander def: Most folks ken the laryngeal prominence as the Adam’s apple, a firm mound most visible with neck extended and head thrown back. Some are prominent enough to reflect light! <G>

Learn about the laryngeal prominence in Anatomy Lesson #42, The Voice – No, not that One! Nine cartilages comprise the larynx or voice box; the laryngeal prominence belongs to the thyroid cartilage, the largest of these nine!

Read about the laryngeal prominence in Diana’s third big book, Voyager. Here, Fergus’ Adam’s apple bobs precariously in his slender throat!

It was a savoury made of goat’s meat and bacon, and he saw Fergus’s prominent Adam’s apple bob in the slender throat at the smell of it. He knew they saved the best of the food for him; it didn’t take much looking at the pinched faces across the table.

See Jamie’s very prominent laryngeal prominence as his head drops back in Season 3, Episode 1 The Battle Joined. “Are ye alive?” Barely! “Let me be!” But, Rupert is having none of that. He willna leave Jamie to die alone in the freezing moor mud, even if the lad did dirk daring Dougal!

A deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist