Mastoid foramen

Last updated
Mastoid foramen
Gray138.png
Left temporal bone. Inner surface. (Mastoid foramen labeled at bottom left.)
Gray193.png
Base of the skull. Upper surface. (Temporal bone is pink, and label for mastoid foramen is at left, second from the bottom.)
Details
Part of Temporal bone of skull
System Skeletal
Identifiers
Latin foramen mastoideum
TA98 A02.1.06.008
TA2 649
FMA 53159
Anatomical terms of bone

The mastoid foramen is a hole in the posterior border of the temporal bone. It transmits an emissary vein between the sigmoid sinus and the suboccipital venous plexus, and a small branch of the occipital artery, the posterior meningeal artery to the dura mater.

Contents

Structure

The mastoid foramen is a hole in the posterior border of the temporal bone of the skull. [1]

The opening of the mastoid foramen is an average of 18 mm from the asterion, [2] and around 34 mm from the external auditory meatus. [3] It is typically very narrow. [1] [3] This may be around 2 mm. [3]

Variation

The position and size of this foramen are very variable. [1] [3] It is not always present. [1] [3] Sometimes, it is duplicated on one side or both sides. [1] Sometimes, it is situated in the occipital bone, or in the suture between the temporal bone and the occipital bone.

Function

The mastoid foramen transmits:

References

PD-icon.svgThis article incorporates text in the public domain from page 141 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wang, Cindy; Lockwood, Joseph; Iwanaga, Joe; Dumont, Aaron S.; Bui, C. J.; Tubbs, R. Shane (June 2021). "Comprehensive review of the mastoid foramen" . Neurosurgical Review. 44 (3): 1255–1258. doi:10.1007/s10143-020-01329-9. ISSN   0344-5607. PMID   32507931. S2CID   219529416.
  2. 1 2 3 Hampl, Martin; Kachlik, David; Kikalova, Katerina; Riemer, Roxane; Halaj, Matej; Novak, Vlastimil; Stejskal, Premysl; Vaverka, Miroslav; Hrabalek, Lumir; Krahulik, David; Nanka, Ondrej (2018-07-01). "Mastoid foramen, mastoid emissary vein and clinical implications in neurosurgery". Acta Neurochirurgica. 160 (7): 1473–1482. doi: 10.1007/s00701-018-3564-2 . ISSN   0942-0940. PMID   29779186. S2CID   29158669.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Kim, Won Sik; Kim, Soo Il; Kim, Sun; Zheng, Guo Dong; Yang, Eun Jin; Han, Seung Ro (2000-03-31). "Mastoid Foramen and Superficial Mastoid Canals of Korean Men" . Korean Journal of Physical Anthropology. 13 (1): 11–19. doi:10.11637/kjpa.2000.13.1.11.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.