Skeletal system · Head and neck
Foramen spinosum !
The foramen spinosum is a small opening just behind the foramen ovale; it lets the middle meningeal artery into the skull to supply its coverings.
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What it is
A small opening behind the foramen ovale.
What it does
Lets the middle meningeal artery into the skull.
Key facts
- Where
- Greater wing of the sphenoid, behind the foramen ovale
- Function
- Transmits the middle meningeal artery and the meningeal branch of V3
Relations
- Contents
- Middle meningeal artery with its veins, and the meningeal branch of the mandibular nerve (nervus spinosus), which turns back into the skull to supply the dura
- In front
- Foramen ovale, in front and medial, with the mandibular nerve (V3)
- Behind
- Spine of the sphenoid bone, which anchors the sphenomandibular ligament; behind and medial, the carotid canal in the petrous temporal bone
- Above
- Floor of the middle cranial fossa, where the artery's groove starts and fans out under the temporal lobe
- Below
- Infratemporal fossa, where the middle meningeal artery leaves the maxillary artery deep to the lateral pterygoid
How to find it
It cannot be felt. On the skull base seen from below, it is the small round hole just in front of and medial to the spine of the sphenoid, behind and lateral to the foramen ovale; inside the skull the vascular groove of the middle meningeal artery starts from it.
On imaging
Axial CT with bone windows shows it as a small round hole behind the foramen ovale. Comparing both sides helps: a missing one hints at an unusual origin of the artery, and a widened one at a meningioma or dural fistula fed by an enlarged middle meningeal artery.
Clinical notes
- Bleeding from the artery's trunk right at the foramen is hard to reach; plugging the hole with bone wax is a classic way to stop it
- In approaches to the petrous apex and the internal acoustic meatus it guides the surgeon to the foramen ovale and the greater petrosal nerve, which runs just medial to it
Anatomical variants
- It may be absent on one side (uncommon); the middle meningeal artery then usually arises from the ophthalmic artery and enters through the orbit
- It can be incomplete, open into the foramen ovale or be doubled
Related conditions
Test yourself
Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.
Which artery passes through the foramen spinosum, and what does its tearing cause?
The middle meningeal artery; a fracture crossing its grooves tears it and causes an epidural haematoma.
Where does the foramen spinosum lie in relation to the foramen ovale?
Behind and lateral to it, just in front of the spine of the sphenoid, after which it is named.
How is bleeding from the middle meningeal artery right at the foramen spinosum classically stopped?
By plugging the hole with bone wax.
Educational information, not medical advice. For any symptom, see a health professional.
Its names
- Official Latin (TA2)
- foramen spinosum TA2 624
- Official Spanish (DeCS)
- Agujero espinoso
- English (TA2)
- Foramen spinosum
- Also called
- foramen spinae
Related
Sources: Terminologia Anatomica (TA2); Anatomy, Head and Neck: Foramen Spinosum; Neuroanatomy, Middle Meningeal Arteries.
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Representative model, for educational purposes only.