Foramen jugulare: a local investigation and a review of the literature.

The jugular foramen varies in size and shape. Because of the variations and the surrounding structures, successful surgery is difficult in this region. For this reason, numerous studies have investigate the detailed anatomy of the foramen. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the possible local variations of the foramen jugulare. In this work, Eastern Anatolian skulls were examined in order to investigate the local variety. Extracranial opening of the foramen was only measured in diameters as maximum anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral diameter (ML) of both right and left foramen. The height of the jugular fossa was taken as the dome height (DH). The results were in mm (right-left) as: AP (12.2-10.9); ML (13.7-12.3); DH (14-13.7). The present study suggested that local differences of the jugular foramen in relative size and shape might occur. These differences are probably peculiar to the region or probably the result of some particular clinical situation.