Pterygopalatine fossa

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Bone: Pterygopalatine fossa
Left maxillary sinus opened from the exterior.
Old human skull with entrance to pterygopalatine fossa marked in purple
Latin fossa pterygopalatina
Gray's subject #41 166
Dorlands/Elsevier f_14/12376574

The pterygopalatine fossa is a fossa in the skull. It is the indented area medial to the pterygomaxillary fissure leading into the sphenopalatine foramen.

Contents

It has the following boundaries:

The following passages connect the fossa with other parts of the skull:

Direction Passage Connection
Posteriorly foramen rotundum middle cranial fossa
Posteriorly pterygoid canal (Vidian) middle cranial fossa, foramen lacerum
Posteriorly palatovaginal canal (pharyngeal) nasal cavity/nasopharynx
Anteriorly inferior orbital fissure orbit
Medially sphenopalatine foramen nasal cavity
Laterally pterygomaxillary fissure infratemporal fossa
Inferiorly greater palatine canal (pterygopalatine) oral cavity, lesser palatine canals

The pterygopalatine fossa contains

Alveolar branches of superior maxillary nerve and pterygopalatine ganglion.

The pterygopalatine ganglion and its branches.

v • d • e
Bones of head and neck: cranial sutures, fontanelles, and related regions
Cranial sutures Coronal - Lambdoid - Occipitomastoid - Sphenofrontal - Sphenoparietal - Sphenosquamosal - Sphenozygomatic -Squamosal - Zygomaticotemporal - Zygomaticofrontal - Frontal/Metopic - Sagittal - Frontoethmoidal - Petrosquamous - Sphenoethmoidal - Sphenopetrosal
Fontanelles Anterior fontanelle - Posterior fontanelle
Foramina of multiple bones Inferior orbital fissure - Foramen lacerum - Jugular foramen - Nasolacrimal canal
Fossae Anterior cranial fossa - Middle cranial fossa - Posterior cranial fossa - Cranial cavity
Other compound structures Asterion - Nasion - Pterion - Dacryon - Zygomatic arch - Calvaria - Temporal fossa - Infratemporal fossa - Stephanion - Pterygomaxillary fissure - Pterygopalatine fossa
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterygopalatine_fossa"
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