Jugular foramen

The jugular foramen (Latin for " throttle hole ") is a large opening in the base of the skull through which some important pathways reach the neck. It lies behind the passage of the internal carotid artery and is bounded in front by the petrous bone and the back of the occiput. On the right side is usually larger.

Structure and content

The jugular foramen can be divided into three sections ( compartments ):

• The pars anterior ( front part) contains the inferior petrosal sinus.

• The pars intermedia ( middle part ) contains the glossopharyngeal, vagus and accessory three cranial nerves (IX, X, XI) and the posterior middle meningeal artery, which supplies the meninges with arterial blood.
• The pars posterior (rear part ) contains the sigmoid sinus, which is after passing the eponymous internal jugular vein. There are also a few arterial meningeal branches of the occipital artery and the ascending pharyngeal artery.

The pars anterior is the ligamentum petrobasilare of the pars intermedia separately. Between pars intermedia and pars posterior ligament is petrooccipitale.

• Vagus