The vidian nerve does not fill the foramen lacerum.

The canal's internal opening is the foramen lacerum.

Some emissary veins pass through the foramen lacerum.

This segment extends until the foramen lacerum.

The broad consensus is that the internal carotid artery should not be described as travelling through the foramen lacerum.

The deep and great petrosal nerves join together to form the vidian nerve, which passes over the foramen lacerum.

It is erroneously stated in several anatomy text books that the internal carotid artery passes through the foramen lacerum.

It is commonly stated that nothing passes through the foramen lacerum, but a more detailed look shows that emissary veins enter here.

The artery of pterygoid canal, the nerve of pterygoid canal and some venous drainage also pass through the foramen lacerum.

Just lateral to the clivus bilaterally is the foramen lacerum which contains the internal carotid artery, proximal to its anastamosis with the Circle of Willis.

It includes in this area the jugular and hypoglossal foramen and the foramen lacerum (through which the internal carotid artery passes superiorly across).

Furthermore, one of the terminal branches of the ascending pharyngeal artery (itself a branch of the external carotid artery) passes through the foramen lacerum.

Occipital emissary vein There are also emissary veins passing through the foramen ovale, jugular foramen, foramen lacerum and hypoglossal canal.

The foramen lacerum (Latin for lacerated piercing) is a triangular hole in the base of the skull Between sphenoid, apex of petrous temporal and basilar part of occipital.

The internal carotid artery passes superiorly from the carotid canal in the base of the skull, emerging via that part of the foramen lacerum which is not occluded by cartilage.

Its medial half forms the anterior boundary of the foramen lacerum, and presents the posterior aperture of the pterygoid canal for the passage of the corresponding nerve and artery.

The pterygoid canal (also vidian canal) is a passage in the skull leading from just anterior to the foramen lacerum in the middle cranial fossa to the pterygopalatine fossa.

This plexus communicates freely with the anterior facial vein; it also communicates with the cavernous sinus, by branches through the foramen Vesalii, foramen ovale, and foramen lacerum.

It then enters the cartilaginous substance which fills the foramen lacerum, and joins with the greater superficial petrosal nerve to form the nerve of the pterygoid canal, also known as the Vidian nerve.

It proceeds towards the foramen lacerum, where it joins the deep petrosal nerve (sympathetic) to form the nerve of the pterygoid canal, which passes through the foramen lacerum.

The lacerum segment, or C3, is a short segment that begins above the foramen lacerum and ends at the petrolingual ligament, a reflection of periosteum between the lingula and petrous apex (or petrosal process) of the sphenoid bone.

The nerve of the pterygoid canal (Vidian nerve) is formed by the junction of the great petrosal nerve and the deep petrosal nerve within the pterygoid canal containing the cartilaginous substance which fills the foramen lacerum.

Medial to the foramen ovale is the foramen lacerum; in the fresh state the lower part of this aperture is filled up by a layer of fibrocartilage, while its upper and inner parts transmit the internal carotid artery surrounded by a plexus of sympathetic nerves.

It begins behind at the foramen lacerum, and ends on the medial side of the anterior clinoid process, where it is sometimes converted into a foramen (carotico-clinoid) by the union of the anterior with the middle clinoid process; posteriorly, it is bounded laterally by the lingula.