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- Jay Ahn, Melissa Duran, Samantha Syldort, Asad Rizvi, Anthony V D'Antoni, Jaspreet Johal, Joe Iwanaga, Rod J Oskouian, and R Shane Tubbs.
- The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA.
- World Neurosurg. 2018 Oct 1; 118: 197-202.
BackgroundThe arcuate foramen is an anatomic variant that is thought to arise from ossification of the posterior atlanto-occipital membrane. Owing to potential entrapment of the vertebral artery segment that traverses the foramen, vertebrobasilar ischemia may occur, and the person may experience vertigo, headache, or neck pain.MethodsWe reviewed the literature regarding anatomy (both human and comparative), embryology, nomenclature, pathology, and surgery of the arcuate foramen.ResultsSurgically, the presence of an arcuate foramen is important when placing screws into lateral masses of the atlas. In these cases, the screws can damage the V3 segment of the vertebral artery and/or the suboccipital nerve.ConclusionsIt is important to review the current literature on the arcuate foramen to further understand its morphology and clinical relevance.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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