Fig. 1

Illustration of the muscular gaps as the origin of pharyngoesophageal diverticulum. a Killian-Jamieson diverticulum arises from the muscular gap in the anterolateral wall of the proximal cervical esophagus just below the cricopharyngeus muscle and superolateral to the longitudinal muscle of the esophagus (Killian-Jamieson area). It is very close to the entry point of the recurrent laryngeal nerve into the larynx. b Zenker’s diverticulum arises from the muscular gap in the posterior aspect below the inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscle and above the cricopharyngeus muscle (Killian’s triangle)