Side Plate

Lateral plate (lat. Lateral plate, English. Lateroplaque) is an elongated cartilaginous process located at the lateral surface of the atlas. Often the lateral plate is fused with the window and is then called the basilar part of the atlas or the basilar process. In some cases, it may be the cause of the acute part of dizziness due to dysfunction of the central nervous system (secondary bathyanesthesia).

It has the appearance of a small oval plate with rounded upper and lower edges, which separates the inner and outer surfaces of the pharynx. It covers partially or completely the vermiform process of the hyoid bone and the base of the carotid glomus. In some congenital anomalies, it can be replaced by a patent pharyngeal chord. Marks a groove - the bottom of the pharyngeal fossa. Between the plate and the glossema membrane on the side of the nasopharynx there remains a small gap called the interpharyngeal cellular mucous sac. The attachment of the lateral plates to the pharynx is highly variable. Moreover, they can be interrupted at a very early stage of development, after which the brain vessels will protrude from the surrounding mesenchyme in the immediate vicinity of the pharyngeal opening. Sometimes such degenerations occur much later, but they are characterized by the preservation of the formed pharyngeal openings.