Surgical landmarks of the glossopharyngeal nerve

Damage to the glossopharyngeal nerve can oc-cur as a result of various Head and Neck surger-ies. Associated with this damage are assorted side effects, such as dysphagia, xerostomia, and loss of taste. This study serves to create probabilistic maps of the glossopharyngeal nerve using quanti-tative data, and to identify different landmarks in order to locate the nerve. Eleven cadaveric heads were bilaterally dissected to expose and measure the glossopharyngeal nerve. The mastoid process is a more reliable marker for the location of the glossopharyngeal nerve as it stretches through the lateral neck. Additionally, distance landmark meas-urements from the nerve leaving the jugular fora-men to it entering the pharyngeal space are of-fered. Furthermore, statistical probability equations for nerve location have been created. Measure-ments and models created by this study will aid in pre-operative identification of glossopharyngeal nerve landmarks that will lead to an increase in quality of life in Head and Neck surgery patients.