Greater superficial petrosal nerve
Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
Citation:
E, Tao W, Hacking C, et al. Greater superficial petrosal nerve. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 02 Mar 2025) https://radiopaedia.org/articles/5059
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rID:
5059
Article created:
27 Nov 2008,
Essam
Disclosures:
At the time the article was created Essam had no recorded disclosures.
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Last revised:
Disclosures:
At the time the article was last revised Wilson Tao had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.
View Wilson Tao's current disclosures
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14 times, by
10 contributors -
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Synonyms:
- greater petrosal nerve
The greater (superficial) petrosal nerve originates at the geniculate ganglion, where the nervus intermedius and facial nerve join. It contains mainly preganglionic parasympathetic fibers and some sensory taste afferent fibers from the soft palate.
After leaving the geniculate ganglion it passes through a small hiatus in the petrous bone to reach middle cranial fossa, lying between the two layers of the dura mater. It passes towards foramen lacerum where it is joined by the deep petrosal nerve (sympathetic fibers from the internal carotid artery) to form the nerve of the pterygoid canal (a.k.a. Vidian nerve).
Its parasympathetic fibers synapse in the pterygopalatine ganglion, with post-synaptic parasympathetic efferent fibers continuing to innervate the lacrimal, nasopharyngeal, and palatine mucosal glands 3.
Quiz questions
References
- 1. Chummy S. Sinnatamby. Last's Anatomy. (1999) ISBN: 9780443056116 - Google Books
- 2. Carmine D. Clemente. Anatomy: A Regional Atlas of the Human Body. (2007) ISBN: 9780781751032 - Google Books
- 3. Eric Nturibi, Adegbenro O. Fakoya, Bruno Bordoni. Anatomy, Head and Neck: Greater Petrosal Nerve. StatPearls Publishing. 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553121/ - Pubmed
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Articles:
- Pharyngeal nerve
- Parasympathetic nervous system
- Lesser petrosal nerve
- Nervus intermedius
- Foramen lacerum
- Nasopalatine nerve
- Soft palate
- Pterygopalatine ganglion
- Lacrimal gland
- Trigeminal nerve
- Palate
- Sympathetic nervous system
- Geniculate ganglion
- Trigeminal ganglion
- Facial nerve
- Hiatus for greater petrosal nerve
- Lesser palatine nerves
- Glossopharyngeal nerve
- Vidian nerve
- Greater palatine nerve
Cases:
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cerebrum
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cerebral hemisphere (telencephalon)
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