Morphometric aspects of the jugular foramen in dry skullsof adult individuals in Southern Brazil

ABSTRACT

The jugular foramen (JF) lies between the occipital bone and the petrosal portion of the temporal bone, andit allows for the passage of important nervous and vascular elements, such as the glossopharyngeal vagusand accessory nerves, and the internal jugular vein. Glomic tumors, schwannomas, metastatic lesions andinfiltrating inflammatory processes are associated with this foramen, which can account for injuries of relatedstructures. Variatons of the JF were already reported regarding shape, size and laterality in one only skull,besides differences related to sex, race and laterality domain, which makes the study of these parameters in thepopulation of southern Brazil significant. Objective: this paper wants to conduct the morphometric analysisof the JF of 111 dry skulls belonging to males and females. Results: the latero-medial the anteroposteriormeasurements showed significant differences when genera were compared and side was compared, respectively.Of the total amount of the investigated skulls, 0.9% showed a complete septum on both sides; 0.9% showedincomplete septum, and 83.8% lacked the septum. The presence of a domed bony roof was noticed in 68.5%of skulls on both sides. Conclusion: the obtained results presented variations regarding some parameterswhen compared to previous studies, thus making it evident the significance of race in the morphometricmeasurements and characteristics of the JF, besides the relevance of studying the kind of impairment whichcan jeopardize important functions, as the cardiac innervation of the vagus nerve.