Clinicopathologic Features of Jugular Foramen Tumors

The jugular foramen (JF) is an anatomically complex region where important bony, neural, and vascular structures converge. Tumors are the primary cause of JF pathology and often present therapeutic challenges. In this article we discuss the clinical and pathologic aspects of JF tumors. These aspects include the classic JF clinical syndromes, imaging characteristics of specific JF tumors, and gross pathologic and histopathologic features. The three most common and important JF tumors, glomus jugulare tumors, meningiomas, and schwannomas, are discussed in depth. A wide variety of tumors can occur in the JF. Nonetheless, our current clinical and radiographic knowledge usually allows a clinician to ascertain the pathology of a JF tumor preoperatively with a high degree of certainty. Doing so allows the clinician not only to formulate the most effective treatment plan but also to provide accurate and thorough preoperative counseling to patients harboring these serious lesions.