AN APPLIED MORPHOMETRIC STUDY OF THE MIDDLE CRANIAL FOSSA / 解剖学报

ABSTRACT

A morphometric study of the lateral portion of the middle cranial fossa was made in a series of 100 Chinese adult skulls at random. Variables studied, 15 in sum, including the depth, the sagittal and transverse measurements, and distances between the endocranially situated osseous points about the fossa. Each sagittal measurement represents approximately the antero-posterior distance of the medial, middle and lateral third of the fossa respectively, and each transverse measurement represents roughly the transverse distance of the anterior, middle and posterior third respectively.Statistical analysis revealed that the metric values on the right middle fossa were greater in all measurements, except S3, and a greater proportion of significant differences was found between the right-left portions. Also. in an analysis of correlations between the depth, the sagittal and transverse measurements, those of the right sided fossa correlated more frequently and more significantly than that of the left. From these results, it is reasonable to conclude that asymmetry in the lateral portions of the middle cranial fossa does exist virtually, the right being the larger.Some theoretical and practical considerations of our results are commented and suggested.