[Occipital foramen in pathology of the osteoarticular apparatus of the craniovertebral region and in normal subjects].

Clinical and X-ray examination of the occipital foramen in healthy individuals and in persons with various congenital and acquired lesions in this region showed, on the one hand, a wide variety of shapes of the foramen in normal conditions and, on the other, the direct dependence of neurologic disorders on the degree of changes in the position of the occipital foramen, its constriction and deformity of its edges. Marked bone changes call for emergency decompression of the compressed or dislocated bulbospinal parts of the central nervous system, the nerves and vessels.