3. The infratemporal fossa is the space beneath.
The base of the skull, between the side wall of
the pharynx and ramus of the mandible.
It communicates with the temporal fossa
through a gap deep to the zygomatic arch.
It is also referred to as the parapharyngeal
space or lateral pharyngeal space.
INTRODUCTION
01
5. Boundaries
02
Roof: Formed by the infratemporal surface of the greater wing of the sphenoid. It is pierced by
foramen spinosum and foramen ovale.
Medial wall: Formed by lateral surface of the lateral pterygoid plate of the sphenoid. It is separ
ated from the anterior wall by pterygomaxillary fissure.
Lateral wall: Formed by the ramus of the mandible.
Anterior wall: Formed by the infratemporal surface of the maxilla. It is separated from roof by
inferior orbital fissure.
Floor: Open and extends up to the level of the base of the mandible.
Posterior wall: Formed by styloid process of the temporal bone.
7. CONTENTS
04
1.Muscles:
Lateral pterygoid, medial pterygoid, and tendon of temporalis.
2.Blood vessels:
Maxillary artery, maxillary vein, and pterygoid venous plexus.
3.Neural structures:
Mandibular nerve, chorda tympani nerve, and otic ganglion.
8. MUSCLES
LATERAL PTERYGOID
It is a short, thick conical muscle with its apex
pointing backwards. It passes backwards and
slightly laterally from the roof and medial
wall of the fossa to the neck of the mandible.
9. • Relations
Structures emerging at the upper border:
• Deep temporal nerves (two in number)
• Masseteric nerve.
Structures emerging at the lower border:
• Inferior alveolar nerve and artery.
• Lingual nerve.
• Middle meningeal artery
10. MUSCLES
MEDIAL PTERYGOID
• The medial pterygoid is a thick quadrilat
eral muscle and consists of two heads:
superficial and deep.
• The medial pterygoid is supplied by a
nerve to medial pterygoid, a branch.
from the main trunk of the mandibular
nerve.
11. Superficial :
1.Lingual nerve.
2.Inferior alveolar nerve.
3.Inferior alveolar vessels.
Deep:
1.Levator palati and tensor palati
muscles.
2.Superior constrictor of pharynx.
3.Styloglossus and stylopharyngeus
muscles.
• Relations
13. Blood supply
05
The vascular supply of the infrate-
mporal fossa comes singularly
from the maxillary artery.
The branches have been divided i
nto three sections for clarity and
are categorized according
to the anatomical structure closest
to them, including:
•mandibular part
•the pterygoid part
•the pterygopalatine part
14. The first part (mandibular part)
contains several arterial branches, such as the deep auricular, the anterior tympanic,
the middle and accessory meningeal arteries and the inferior alveolar artery. The
branches pass between the mandible and the sphenomandibular ligament.
The second part (pterygoid part )
contains vessels that pass obliquely and anterosuperiorly between the mandibular
ramus and the temporalis muscle. The list of vascular constituents includes the anterior
and posterior deep temporal artery, the masseteric artery, the pterygoid artery and the
buccal artery
The third part (the pteryogopalatine )
holds the posterior superior alveolar artery that runs from the infratemporal fossa to
the pterygopalatine fossa via the pterygomaxillary fissure.
15. MAXILLARY VEIN AND PTERYGOID VENOUS PLEXUS
It is a short venous trunk, which accompanies the first part of the
maxillary artery.
• Pterygoid Venous Plexus
It is a network of very small veins that lie around and within the
lateral pterygoid muscle.
• Maxillary Vein
which leads infratempora
foggy to communicate
with Cavernous
sinus
16. Innervation
06
• The mandibular nerve contribute their branches.
• Mandibular nerve providing nerves from both its an
terior and posterior divisions.
19. OTIC GANGLION
It is a small parasympathetic ganglion connected to the mandibular division of trigeminal nerve
and provides a relay station to the secretomotor fibres to the parotid gland. Topographically , it
is intimately related to the mandibular nerve but functionally it is related to glossopharyngeal
nerve.
