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Pterygoid plexus
Veins of the head and neck.
Details
Drains to	Maxillary vein
Artery	Maxillary artery
Identifiers
Latin	plexus venosus pterygoideus, plexus pterygoideus
TA98	A12.3.05.036
TA2	4836
FMA	50944
Anatomical terminology[edit on Wikidata]

The pterygoid plexus (/ˈtɛrɪɡɔɪd/; from Greek pteryx, "wing" and eidos, "shape") is a fine venous plexus upon and within the lateral pterygoid muscle. It drains by a short maxillary vein.

Anatomy

It is a venous plexus of considerable size, situated between the temporalis muscle and lateral pterygoid muscle, and partly between the two pterygoid muscles.

The plexus features venous valves. The contractions of the lateral pterygoid muscle promote venous drainage.

Tributaries

The plexus drains all veins that correspond to the branches of the maxillary artery (however, much of the blood delivered by the maxillary artery is returned by other routes), as well as two additional veins.

It receives the following veins:

• sphenopalatine
• middle meningeal
• deep temporal (anterior & posterior)
• pterygoid
• masseteric
• buccinator
• alveolar
• some palatine veins (palatine vein which divides into the greater and lesser palatine v.)
• inferior ophthalmic vein
• deep facial vein
• infraorbital vein

Anastomoses

The plexus is connected with the intercranial cavernous sinus by emissary veins passing through the foramen ovale and foramen lacerum.

Relations

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. Due to its communication with the cavernous sinus, infection of the superficial face may spread to the cavernous sinus, causing cavernous sinus thrombosis. Complications may include edema of the eyelids, conjunctivae of the eyes, and subsequent paralysis of cranial nerves which course through the cavernous sinus.

The pterygoid plexus of veins becomes the maxillary vein. The maxillary vein and the superficial temporal vein later join to become the retromandibular vein. The posterior branch of the retromandibular vein and posterior auricular vein then form the external jugular vein, which empties into the subclavian vein.

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 645 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

1. Entry "pterygoid" in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
2. ^ Sinnatamby, Chummy S. (2011). Last's Anatomy (12th ed.). p. 364. ISBN 978-0-7295-3752-0.

External links

• Anatomy photo:27:13-0100 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center - "Infratemporal Fossa: The Pterygoid Plexus of Veins"
• Pterygoid Plexus

• Anatomy

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