aryepiglottic fold

Aryepiglottic fold is a triangular opening at the entrance of the larynx that is narrow in front, wide behind, and sloping obliquely downward and backward. It is bound, in front, by the epiglottis; behind, by the apices of the arytenoid cartilages, the corniculate cartilages, and the interarytenoid notch; and on either side, by a fold of mucous membrane, enclosing ligamentous and muscular fibers, stretched between the side of the epiglottis and the apex of the arytenoid cartilage; this is the aryepiglottic fold, on the posterior part of the margin of which the cuneiform cartilage forms a more or less distinct whitish prominence, the cuneiform tubercle. These folds form the upper borders of the quadrangular membrane. The aryepiglottic folds are shortened in laryngomalacia.