Syndrome of the Jugular Foramen: A Syndrome Resulting from Neoplasms of the Posterior Fossa

The jugular foramen transmits the glossopharyngeal, vagus, and spinal accessory nerves. Through this skull aperture also pass the transverse sinus, the inferior petrosal sinus, and meningeal branches from both the occipital and ascending pharyngeal arteries. With the slow encroachment usually found in those cases where this foramen is involved by neoplasm, the symptoms are those due to damage of the 9th, 10th, and 11th cranial nerves. Immediately above this foramen is the internal meatus. Consequently, in any involvement in this area due to tumor, the facial and auditory nerves are also frequently damaged. The hypoglossal nerve, with its own canal some distance away, is much less likely to be disturbed. In considering neoplasms in the region of the jugular foramen one thinks initially of tumor of the glomus jugulare. The pathology of tumors of the chemoreceptor system has been excellently presented in monograph by LeCompte.1Apparently the first case