Sulcus Occipital Lateral

The occipital lateral groove (lat. sulcus occipitalis lateralis) is a groove on the lateral surface of the skull.

The occipital lateral groove is located in the lateral part of the occipital bone at the junction of the upper and middle occipital bones. It extends from the superior edge of the foramen magnum to the posterior end of the greater pterygoid process.

The lateral occipital sulcus is a branch of the middle occipital sulcus (sulcus occipitalis medius). It divides the middle and posterior occipital lobes of the brain into two hemispheres.

The following structures are located in the lateral occipital groove:

1. Posterior branch of the superior cerebellar artery.
2. Inferior petrosal sinus.
3. Oculomotor nerve.
4. Glossopharyngeal nerve.
5. Nervus vagus.
6. Branches of the posterior auricular artery.
7. Maxillary nerve.

Occipital lateral sulcus - (s.occipitales lat., bna.,jna.) one of the variations of the continuation of the parietal sulcus posteriorly and laterally at the point of transition of its anterior surface into the superior parietal triangle. It is closed by a process of the posterior edge of the falx cerebri and partly by the spear-shaped fossa of the mastoid process of the temporal bone. The deep connection with the frontal bone lateralizes the ascending branch of the occipital sulcus, which runs in this sulcus.

The passage of the transverse branches of the first and second visceral grooves on both sides and the posterolateral knee of the lenticulum closer to the middle of the groove of the occipital laterals create the appearance of three grooves for the occipital sinus. Deep next to the occipital branch, the pathways connect in the area of ​​the anterior white commissure. Between the median and posterior lateral sinuses of the superior medulla oblongata there is a small gap through which the adjacent segmental artery is sometimes visible.