Anatomy Bones and Muscles · MU Pleven

6. Calvaria cranial sutures

Covers the immovable fibrous joints that join the bones of the calvaria, held together by Sharpey's fibres. It takes the main sutures in turn (coronal, sagittal and lambdoid), then the minor squamous and metopic sutures, noting when the metopic suture usually fuses and when it may persist. It then describes the key junction points (bregma, lambda, pterion and asterion), with the pterion's weak spot over the middle meningeal artery, and the anterior and posterior fontanelles with their closure times. It ends with craniosynostosis and how a persistent metopic suture can mimic a fracture on X-ray.

Inside: 1 section · 10 labelled pictures · 12 flashcards · 1 min

Topic 6 of 236 in the MU Pleven syllabus for Anatomy Bones and Muscles (Medicine, Year 2). The free AceMed note covers it in 1 section, about 183 words (1 min of reading), with 12 flashcards.

In this note

  1. CALVARIA- CRANIAL SUTURES

CALVARIA- CRANIAL SUTURES

IMMOVABLE FIBROUS JOINTS BETWEEN SKULL BONES (HELD BY SHARPEY'S FIBERS)

FOUND IN CALVARIA (ROOF OF SKULL)

MAIN SUTURES

  • →CORONAL SUTURE
  • BETWEEN FRONTAL BONE AND PARIETAL BONES (SIDE TO SIDE ACROSS TOP OF HEAD)
  • SAGITTAL SUTURE

BETWEEN THE TWO PARIETAL BONES (RUNS FRONT TO BACK, MIDLINE).

  • LAMBDOID SUTURE

BETWEEN PARIETAL BONES AND OCCIPITAL BONE (AT BACK OF HEAD UPSIDE-DOWN "V")

MINOR SUTURES

  • SQUAMOUS SUTURE → BETWEEN PARIETAL AND TEMPORAL BONE (SIDE OF HEAD, FLAT).
  • METOPIC SUTURE → (FRONTAL SUTURE) - BETWEEN TWO HALVES OF FRONTAL BONE USUALLY FUSES BY 6-8 YRS, MAY PERSIST IN ADULTS.

IMPORTANT JUNCTION POINTS.

  • BREGMA → MEETING OF CORONAL SAGITTAL SUTURES
  • LAMDA → MEETING OF SAGITTAL + LAMBDOID SUTURES
  • PTERION → JUNCTION OF FRONTAL PARIETAL, TEMPORAL, SPHENOID (WEEKEST SPOT, MIDDLE MENINGEAL ARTERY LIES BENEATH)
  • ASTERION→ JUNCTION OF LAMBDOID OCCIPITOMASTOID, PARIETOMASTOID SUTURES
  • FONTANELLES → SOFT SPOT IN NEWBORNS (MEMBRANOUS GAPS AT SUTURES)
  • ANT FONTANELLE → AT BREGMA, CLOSES BY 18-24 MONTHS
  • POST FONTANELLE → AT LAMBDA, CLOSES BY 2-3 MONTHS
  • CRANIOSYNOSTOSIS → PREMATURE CLOSURE OF SUTURES → ABNORMAL SKULL SHAPE
  • METOPIC SUTURE PERSISTENCE → MAY LOOK LIKE A FRACTURE ON X-RAY.

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