THE GEOMETRY OF THE PTERION OF DRY ADULT NIGERIAN SKULLS

ABSTRACT

The pterion is a point of confluence of the sutural parts of the frontal bone, parietal bone, greater wing of sphenoid bone, and squamous part of the temporal bone. It is classified into four types: spenoparietal, frontotemporal, stellate, and epipteric. This study highlighted the morphology and location of the pterion of adult Nigerian skull in comparison to other populations. A total of 50 dry skulls were used from the Departments of Anatomy of five federal institutions: University of Port Harcourt, University of Calabar, University of Uyo, Nnamdi Azikiwe University and Niger Delta University. The measurement of individual skulls was done using a stainless steel digital vernier calliper with an accuracy of 0.01mm. The sphenoparietal type of pterion had the highest frequency with a percentage incidence of 87% which conformed to what has been observed among other populations while the least was the stellate type which recorded no incidence among the sampled skulls. The distance between the pterion and both the midpoint of the zygomatic arch and the posterolateral portion of the frontozygomatic suture revealed the position of the pterion of adult Nigerians to be slightly higher than some other populations that have been researched upon. Further investigation into the anatomical variations of the geometry of the pterion among populations from different areas as well as major ethnic groups and tribes in Nigeria should be encouraged as it is of benefit to surgeons, anthropologists, and forensic pathologists.