ABSTRACT
Study of skulls has attracted the attention of anatomists since ages and sporadic attempts have been made to study skulls from time-to-time. Talking about the pterygoid processes of sphenoid bone, the irregular posterior border of lateral pterygoid plate usually presents, towards its upper part, a pterygo-spinous process, from which the pterygo-spinous ligament extends backwards and laterally to the spine of sphenoid. This ligament sometimes gets ossified as pterygo-spinous bar and a foramen is then formed named pterygo-spinous foramen, for the passage of muscular branches of mandibular nerve. The present study was undertaken to observe the incidence and status of pterygo-spinous bony bridge and foramen, its variations and clinical relevance in the adult human skulls of North India. For this purpose, 50 skulls were observed, pterygo-spinous bars were found to be present in 7 skulls, out of which completely ossified pterygo-spinous bony bridges were present in 2 skulls while 5 skulls had incompletely ossified pterygo-spinous ligaments. Such variations are of clinical significance for radiologists, neurologists, maxillo-facial & dental surgeons and anaesthetists, too.