Pterygoid fossa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pterygoid fossa
Sphenoid bone. Upper and posterior surfaces. (Pterygoid fossa labeled at left.)
Latin f. pterygoidea ossis sphenoidalis
Gray's subject #35 151
Dorlands/Elsevier f_14/12376565

The pterygoid fossa is an anatomical term for the fossa formed by the divergence of the lateral pterygoid plate and the medial pterygoid plate of the sphenoid bone.

[edit] Structure

The lateral and medial pteryoid plates (of the pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone) diverge behind and enclose between them a V-shaped fossa, the pterygoid fossa. This fossa faces posteriorly, and contains the medial pterygoid muscle and the tensor veli palatini muscle.

[edit] See also

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

Human cranial bones
v  d  e

occipital bone: Foramen magnum | Squama occipitalis (Inion | Nuchal lines | Planum occipitale | Planum nuchale | Cruciform eminence | Internal occipital protuberance | Sagittal sulcus | Internal occipital crest)
Lateral parts (Hypoglossal canal | Condyloid fossa | Condyloid canal | Jugular process | Jugular tubercle) | Basilar part (Pharyngeal tubercle)

parietal bone: Parietal eminence | Temporal line | Parietal foramen

frontal bone: Squama frontalis (Frontal suture | Frontal eminence | Superciliary arches | Glabella | Supraorbital foramen | Zygomatic process | Sagittal sulcus | Frontal crest | Foramen cecum)
Pars orbitalis (Frontal sinus | Frontonasal duct)

temporal bone: Squama temporalis (Articular tubercle | Suprameatal triangle | Mandibular fossa | Petrotympanic fissure) | Mastoid portion (Mastoid foramen
Mastoid process | Mastoid notch | Occipital groove | Sigmoid sulcus | Mastoid antrum)
Petrous portion (Hiatus of the facial canal | Internal auditory meatus | Subarcuate fossa | Carotid canal | Aqueduct of cochlea | Jugular fossa | Inferior tympanic canaliculus | Mastoid canaliculus | Styloid process | Stylomastoid foramen | Petrosquamous suture) | Tympanic part (Suprameatal spine) | Zygomatic process

sphenoid bone: Sphenoidal sinuses | Ethmoidal spine | Optic foramen | Sella turcica | Fossa hypophyseos | Dorsum sellae | Posterior clinoid processes | Carotid groove | Lingula sphenoidalis | Sphenoidal conchæ | Great wings (Spina angularis | Foramen rotundum | Foramen ovale | Foramen Vesalii | Foramen spinosum | Infratemporal crest | Sulcus tubae auditivae | Small wings | Superior orbital fissure | Anterior clinoid process | Optic foramen)
Pterygoid processes (Pterygoid fossa | Scaphoid fossa | Lateral pterygoid plate | Medial pterygoid plate | Pterygoid hamulus | Sphenoidal conchæ | Sphenoidal sinuses)

ethmoid bone: Cribriform plate | Crista galli | Perpendicular plate | Labyrinth | Ethmoid sinus | Uncinate process | Middle nasal concha | Superior meatus | Superior nasal concha | Middle meatus