ORIGINAL ARTICLE An anatomical study of the pterygospinous bar and foramen of Civinini Neeru Goyal 1 • Anjali Jain 1 Received: 18 September 2015 / Accepted: 1 February 2016 Ó Springer-Verlag France 2016 Abstract Purpose The pterygospinous ligament extends from the posterior free margin of the lateral pterygoid plate till the spine of the sphenoid. The ligament may ossify partly or completely leading to the formation of the pterygospinous bar. A complete ossification of the ligament results in the formation of the foramen of Civinini. Presence of the complete or incomplete pterygospinous bar may lead to a difficulty in passing the needle during anaesthesia for the trigeminal neuralgia or the bar may also compress the mandibular nerve and its branches to cause lingual numb- ness, pain and speech impairment. Method Presence of the complete or incomplete ptery- gospinous bar and the foramen of Civinini were studied in 55 dried adult skulls and 20 sphenoid bones. Results Partial or complete ossification of the ptery- gospinous ligament was seen in 17.33 % skulls. One skull showed the presence of bilateral complete pterygospinous bar while another skull had the unilateral complete ptery- gospinous bar on right side. Two skulls and one sphenoid had bilateral incomplete pterygospinous bar while seven skulls and one sphenoid bone had unilateral incomplete pterygospinous bar. In three cases, the bar was passing just below the foramen ovale. Conclusion The pterygospinous bar when present medial to the foramen ovale may not have much clinical signifi- cance but when the bar is present just below the foramen ovale, it may cause a compression of the mandibular nerve and its branches and may also obstruct the passage for the transoval approach to the neighbouring regions. Keywords Ossification Á Pterygospinous ligament Á Sphenoid Á Neuralgia Introduction The pterygospinous ligament was first described by an Italian anatomist, Civinini in 1835 (cited by Tebo [22]). The ligament stretches between the spine of the sphenoid bone and the pterygospinous process on the posterior border of the lateral pterygoid plate near its upper end. It is occasionally replaced by muscle fibres [20]. The ligament is sometimes ossified and forms the pterygospinous bar. The ossification can be complete or incomplete. Civinini described various types depending on the extent of ossifi- cation: In one type, a spinous or tongue like extension from the lateral pterygoid plate projects towards the spine extending from the spine of the sphenoid. This variation is marked by a notching of the posterior border of the lateral pterygoid plate due to the formation of two or three spines. In the second type, the attachment between the lateral pterygoid plate and the spine of the sphenoid is almost complete. In the third and a rarer condition, there is a complete bony connection between the lateral pterygoid plate and the spine of the sphenoid. The third condition leads to the formation of one or more foramina called the pterygospinous foramina or the foramina of Civinini. This foramen transmits the branches of the mandibular nerve going to the temporalis, masseter and lateral pterygoid [20]. The ossified pterygospinous ligament or a wide lateral lamina of the pterygoid plate may also cause mandibular & Neeru Goyal meetneeru24@yahoo.co.in 1 Department of Anatomy, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, India 123 Surg Radiol Anat DOI 10.1007/s00276-016-1639-4