A Study on the Occurrence of Wormian Bones Among the Male and Female Skulls of Tamil Nadu. India.

Background: Wormian bones, also known as intra sutural bones are extra bone pieces that occur within a suture in the cranium. These are irregular isolated bones which appear in addition to the usual centers of ossification of the cranium and, although unusual, are not rare. The number of sutural bones varies considerably because different individuals and different population have different numbers of sutural bones. They occur mostly along the sutures and meeting point of the cranial sutures. They occur most frequently in the course of the lambdoid suture. They are also occasionally seen within the sagittal and coronal sutures. Materials and Methods: In this present study we analyzed the occurrence of sutural bones among 50 male and female skulls in Tamil Nadu region and we compared the results along with the studies of Indian skulls. Result and Conclusion: Based on the study we concluded that sutural bones are more among male skulls than in females among the skulls of Tamil Nadu and this is exactly the opposite of the results given in Indian population.

The Morphometric Study for the Rolandic Fissure

OBJECTIVE : The purpose of this study was to characterize the Rolandic fissure(Rf) and was to identify the Rf using the surface bony landmarks which can be usually exposed on craniotomy. METHODS : After morphological evaluation of the Rfs using 21 Korean adult formalin fixed cadavers, craniometric measurement was carried out from the surface bony landmarks of nasion, glabella, bregma, and lambda. RESULTS : The Rfs of both hemispheres did not show the mirror image. The Rfs ran forward and downward toward the sylvian fissure keeping the mean angle of 67degrees from mid-sagittal line as elongated S-shape in left and the elongated reverse S-shape in right hemisphere. Connections between the Rf and the longitudinal fissure and between the Rf and the sylvian fissure were found in 3 (7.1%) and 2 (4.8%) of 42 hemispheres, respectively. Most Rfs extended superiorly to 2-3mm lateral to the most superomedial surface of hemispheres and extended inferiorly to 3-5mm superior to the sylvian fissures. The mean distances from the nasion, glabella, bregma, and lambda to the most superomedial aspect of the Rf were 18.8+/-0.9cm, 16.6+/-0.8cm, 5.2+/-0.6cm, and 6.9+/-1.0cm, respectively. The mean distance measured between the Rf and the nasion using traditional method was 18.4+/-0.6cm. CONCLUSION : The distance between the Rf and the nasion roughly correspond within the range of mean 4 mm compared with that measured by the traditional measurement. These data may be more helpful to delineate the Rf after the placement of drapes for craniotomy.