Morphological Study on Shapes of Pterion.
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Date
2015-10
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Abstract
Background: Pterion is defined as an H-shaped small circular area formed by the junction of four bones: frontal,
parietal, temporal and sphenoid on norma lateralis of the skull, Pterion junction has been used as a common
extra-cranial landmark for surgeons in microsurgical and surgical approaches towards important pathologies
of this region. Pterion is an important landmark for anterior branch of middle meningeal artery, Broca’s motor
speech area to the left, insula, the lateral cerebral fissure, for the pathologies of optic nerve, orbit, sphenoidal
ridge and for the anterior circulation aneurysm and tumors, because of its clinical importance we focused our
present study on morphology of shape of pterion.
Materials and Methods: A total of 500 pterions were examined from 250 adult dry skulls. The present study was
undertaken in adult south Indian skulls from different regions of south India, from different medical colleges.
We have observed different shapes of pterion like sphenoparietal frontotemporal, stellate and epipteric.
Results: The sutural morphology of the pterion and asterion is important in surgical approaches to the cranial
fossae. 250 human skulls of known gender (148 male, 102 female) were examined on both sides. Four types of
pterion were observed – sphenoparietal 72.8%, frontotemporal 16.4%, stellate 8.8% and epipteric 2%.
Conclusion: The pterion is points of sutural confluence seen in the norma lateralis of the skull. The patterns of
formation exhibit population based variations. The sutural morphology of the pterion is important in surgical
approaches to the cranial fossae. These findings may helpful in surgical approaches and interventions via the
pterion.
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Keywords
Skull, Pterion, sphenoparietal, frontotemporal, stellate, epipteric, Neurosurgery
Citation
Havaldar Pavan P , Shruthi B N , Saheb Shaik Hussain, Henjarappa K S. Morphological Study on Shapes of Pterion. International Journal of Anatomy and Research. 2015 Oct-Dec; 3(4): 1555-1558.