BoneIrregular bone
Incus
Latin: Incus sinistrum
Location: Left middle ear
Paired structure: one on the left and one on the right side of the body.
View the incus in 3DFunction
The middle ossicle — an anvil that receives the malleus' swing and passes it through its long process to the stapes, completing the lever system that boosts sound pressure roughly 22-fold overall.
Landmarks
- Body
- Short process
- Long process
- Lenticular process
Articulations (joints)
- Malleus (incudomalleolar joint)
- Stapes (incudostapedial joint)
Clinical relevance
The incus is the ossicle most often eroded by chronic ear disease; ossiculoplasty replaces it with a PORP prosthesis.
Educational anatomy reference, not medical advice. About this content.