Petrotympanic fissure

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Bone: Petrotympanic fissure
Left temporal bone. Outer surface. (Petrotympanic fissure is labeled at left, fourth from top.)
The right membrana tympani with the hammer and the chorda tympani, viewed from within, from behind, and from above. (Glaserian fissure labeled at center left.)
Latin f. petrotympanica
Gray's subject #34 140
Dorlands/Elsevier f_08/12365631

The mandibular fossa is bounded, in front, by the articular tubercle; behind, by the tympanic part of the bone, which separates it from the external acoustic meatus; it is divided into two parts by a narrow slit, the petrotympanic fissure (Glaserian fissure).

It opens just above and in front of the ring of bone into which the tympanic membrane is inserted; in this situation it is a mere slit about 2 mm. in length. It lodges the anterior process and anterior ligament of the malleus, and gives passage to the anterior tympanic branch of the internal maxillary artery.

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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 As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated.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.