Abstract
The whole course of the chorda tympani nerve, nerve of pterygoid canal, and facial nerves and their relationships with surrounding structures are complex. After reviewing the literature, it was found that details of the whole course of these deep nerves are rarely reported and specimens displaying these nerves are rarely seen in the dissecting room, anatomical museum, or atlases. Dissections were performed on 16 decalcified human head specimens, exposing the chorda tympani and the nerve connection between the geniculate and pterygopalatine ganglia. Measurements of nerve lengths, branching distances, and ganglia size were taken. The chorda tympani is a very fine nerve (0.44 mm in diameter within the tympanic cavity) and approximately 54 mm in length. The mean length of the facial nerve from opening of internal acoustic meatus to stylomastoid foramen was 52.5 mm. The mean length of the greater petrosal nerve was 26.1 mm and nerve of the pterygoid canal was 15.1 mm.
Highlights
Topographic knowledge of the deep nerves of the head is not gained by students because of the deep location of these small structures and the difficulty in dissecting them out in the short amount of class time available
The chorda tympani passes through the tympanic cavity in close proximity to the auditory ossicles and tympanic membrane (Figure 3)
The chorda tympani branches from the facial nerve in varying locations
Summary
Topographic knowledge of the deep nerves of the head is not gained by students because of the deep location of these small structures and the difficulty in dissecting them out in the short amount of class time available. Because dissections are unlikely to be performed by all the students [2], making good teaching prosections for gross anatomy laboratories and museums is very important. After reviewing the literature [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9], it was found that most studies paid attention to different points of the deep nerves of the human head without studying the whole course of the nerves. Some authors viewed parts of the deep nerves, some observed deep nerves using microscopic or CT imaging techniques. After meticulous repositioning of surrounding structures, standard radiography and CT scan examinations were performed
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