H. Person et al., ARTERIAL AND NEURAL RELATIONS AT THE POSTERIOR AND LATERAL ASPECTS OFTHE MEDULLO-SPINAL JUNCTION, Surgical and radiologic anatomy, 20(3), 1998, pp. 177-184
Citations number
47
Categorie Soggetti
Surgery,"Radiology,Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging","Anatomy & Morphology
The authors report the results of a series of 59 microdissections of t
he region of the foramen magnum. These dissections were made under the
strict conditions of a surgical approach using an operating microscop
e. The major anatomic structures of the medullo-spinal junction are ar
ranged mainly at its lateral aspect. The customary surgical approaches
to the posterior cranial fossa give ready access to the cerebello and
latero-medullary cisterns. The description of the neurovascular struc
tures contained therein assumes a particular importance because of the
relative frequency of lesions developing at this level. This study de
als particularly with the vertebral a. (VA), the inferior posterior ce
rebellar a. (IPCA), the cranial nn. IX (glossopharyngeal n.), X (vagus
n.), XIc and XIs (cranial and spinal accessory n.) and XII (hypogloss
al n.). The anatomy of this posterior and lateral region is characteri
sed by the contrast between the relatively uniform course of the VA an
d the variable course of the IPCA, a true guideline whose very irregul
ar arrangement accounts for the diversity of its relations with the la
st four cranial nn.