Anthropometric Evaluation of Foramen Ovale in Adult Dry Skulls of the Mysuru-based Population

Abstract

in). of the length (Anteroposterior diameter) and width (transverse diameter) of the foramen ovale was taken using sliding Keywords ► foramen ovale ► greater wing of sphenoid ► middle cranial fossa ► mandibular nerve Abstract Introduction The greater wing of sphenoid presents various foramina, of which the foramen ovale is one important foramen through which advanced surgical therapeutic and diagnostic procedures related to the middle cranial fossa are performed. Materials and Methods A total of 40 dried adult skulls of unknown gender and age, obtained from the Department of Anatomy of the JSS medical College, Mysuru, Kamakata, India. The length and the width of the foramen ovale were measured using digital sliding calipers (tiny deal 150 mm SS digital caliper with LCD display, Kristeel-Shimwa industries, Bombay, India). Results The mean length of the foramen ovale was 0.745 AE 0.31 cm on the right side (RS), and 0.68 AE 0.15 cm on the left side (LS). The mean width was 0.6 AE 0.17 cm on the RS, and 0.56 AE 0.14 cm on the LS. Conclusion The knowledge of variations in the length and breadth of the foramen ovale is of immense importance in neurosurgery during various invasive surgical procedures, such as percutaneous trigeminal rhizotomy, and in the biopsy of cavernous sinus tumors and of Meckel cave lesions.

Foramen Ovale and Foramen Rotundum: Characterization of Postnatal Development

“…So far, anatomic studies focused primarily on diameters, i.e. the length, width and shape of FO, FR, and other sphenoid bone openings [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] .…”

“…Very few quantitative morphometric studies included fetal and postnatal skull bones 4,5 , while most of morphometric data were reported on adult sphenoid bone openings [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] . Postnatal measurements were pre- sented by Lang in 1984; the newborn FR length was about 2.5 mm, while the FO length was about 3.85 mm 5 .…”

“…Neither width nor surface was measured, and the author did not report any statistical differences between the right and left side morphometry 5 . As mentioned previously, most morphometric data on FO and FR have been acquired in studies including adult skulls, cadavers, or patient scans [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] . In the literature, the value of FO length and width varies at around 7-9 mm and 3-5 mm, respectively.…”

“…length and width, and shape of FO and FR, as well as other sphenoid bone openings have been widely described. Most of the studies report on the results obtained on adult skull collections [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] , while only very few studies describe results on fetal, neonatal and postnatal skulls 2,4,5 . In addition, studies have been conducted either on dry skull collections or cadavers [10][11][12][13]15,[17][18][19] , or x-ray scans 13 , computed tomography (CT) scans 14,16 , or even magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans 20 , using different divider measurement devices such as Vernier, digital or other caliper [10][11][12]15,[17][18][19] , or sophisticated software 13,14,16 .…”

“…A number of studies were conducted on Asian 4,10,[12][13][14][15]17,18 , South American 16,17 and European 5,11 populations. The variability of sphenoid bone openings, their size and shape across different world regions has been explained by population variation.…”