Optic strut connects the body of sphenoid to the inferomedial aspect of base of anterior
clinoid process and is removed during anterior clinoidectomy and optic canal decompression.
In the supraobital or pterional keyhole approaches, cavernous sinus tumor can be dissected by removing the anterior
clinoid process or cut open the cavernous sinus along the oculomotor nerve.
The anterior
clinoid process is a part of the roof to the cavernous sinus in its frontal portion.
Its posterior border is marked by the petroclinoidal (petrosphenoidal or Gruber's) ligament extending between the petrous apex and posterior
clinoid process of the sphenoid.
The anterior edge of the pituitary fossa is completed laterally by the middle
clinoid process and the posterior boundary is formed by the dorsum sellae, the superolateral angles of which are expanded to form the posterior
clinoid process (1).
The oculomotor nerve pierces the dura lateral to the posterior
clinoid process and traverses the cavernous sinus, before dividing.
The tumor also extended posteriorly along the base of the cranial vault, destroying the pterygoid plates inferiorly and the
clinoid process superiorly.
A spinner dolphin, Stenella longirostris, from the Gulf of Mexico has both an anterior and a posterior
clinoid process bordering its sella turcica.
The relationship between the sixth nerve, Gruber's ligament, the carotid artery and the anterior
clinoid process, is necessary to understand the three dimensional structure of the canal.
Gruber described the ligament extending from the apex of the petrous temporal and sphenoid posterior
clinoid process and gave the name petrosphenoidal ligament (Marom; Ambekar et al., 2012).
*Type II (standard FLA): A Type II FLA was performed for lesions that invaded the anterior
clinoid process, cavernous sinus, and the third ventricle.