Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Lacerated foramen --> foramen lacerum

(Science: anatomy) An irregular aperture, filled with cartilage (basilar cartilage) in the living, located between the apex of the petrous part of the temporal bone, the body of the sphenoid, and the basilar part of the occipital bones. Several structures pass along the margins of the foramen in a nearly horizontal direction but no structures pass through vertically.

Synonym: foramen lacerum medium, lacerated foramen, sphenotic foramen.