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    Fetal Skull

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    subashik
    The fetal skull has a large head relative to its body to allow passage through the birth canal. It is composed of soft, thin bones separated by sutures and fontanelles that are not fully formed at birth. The skull consists of the vault, base, and face. The vault bones of the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital bones ossify from the center outward, leaving gaps between bones. There are six longitudinal diameters including the largest mentovertical diameter, and two transverse diameters that measure the skull.

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    Fetal Skull

    Uploaded by

    subashik
    896 views4 pages
    The fetal skull has a large head relative to its body to allow passage through the birth canal. It is composed of soft, thin bones separated by sutures and fontanelles that are not fully formed at birth. The skull consists of the vault, base, and face. The vault bones of the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital bones ossify from the center outward, leaving gaps between bones. There are six longitudinal diameters including the largest mentovertical diameter, and two transverse diameters that measure the skull.

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    Teaching notes on fetal skull

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    The fetal skull has a large head relative to its body to allow passage through the birth canal. It is composed of soft, thin bones separated by sutures and fontanelles that are not fully formed at birth. The skull consists of the vault, base, and face. The vault bones of the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital bones ossify from the center outward, leaving gaps between bones. There are six longitudinal diameters including the largest mentovertical diameter, and two transverse diameters that measure the skull.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    896 views4 pages

    Fetal Skull

    Uploaded by

    subashik
    The fetal skull has a large head relative to its body to allow passage through the birth canal. It is composed of soft, thin bones separated by sutures and fontanelles that are not fully formed at birth. The skull consists of the vault, base, and face. The vault bones of the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital bones ossify from the center outward, leaving gaps between bones. There are six longitudinal diameters including the largest mentovertical diameter, and two transverse diameters that measure the skull.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    FETAL SKULL

    The fetal head is large in relation to the fetal body compared with the adult. Adaptation
    between the skull and the pelvis is necessary to allow the head to pass through the pelvis without
    complications. The bones of the vault are thin and pliable and if subjected to great pressure
    damage to the underlying delicate brain may occur.

    PARTS/DIVISIONS OF THEFETAL SKULL


    Parts of fetal skull include
    1. Base
    2. Face
    3. Vault
    1. Base:
    It is the lower part of fetal skull. It has the foramen magnum through which spinal cord
    and nerve passing it. It protects the vital organ such as Cerebrum, Cerebellum and
    medulla Etc.
    2. Face:
    It extends from glabella through root of the nose to mentum and submentum. It
    comprised of 14 small bones and it is non compressible.
    3. Vault:
    It is the large dome shaped part above an imaginary line drawn between the orbital ridges
    and nape of the neck.

    BONES OF THE VAULT


    The bones of the vault are laid down in membrane. They ossify from the centre outwards
    in a process known as ossification. Ossification is incomplete at birth, leaving small gaps
    between the bones known as the sutures and fontanelles. The ossification centre on each bone
    appears as a protuberance.
    Frontal bone:
    There are two frontal bone which forms the fore head or sinciput. Ossification
    centre of frontal bone is called as Frontal eminence or boss. Frontal bones fuse into a
    single bone by 8 yrs of age.
    Parietal bone:
    There are two parietal bones forms the side of the fetal skull. Ossification centre
    of the parietal bone is known as Parietal eminence.
    Temporal bone:
    There are two temporal bones lies at the sides of the fetal skull forms part of the
    vault
    Occipital bone:
    It lies at the back of the head. Part of it contributes to the base of the skull as it
    contains the foramen magnum, which protects the spinal cord as it leaves the skull..
    Ossification centre is the occipital protuberance.

    SUTURES
    The sutures are the cranial joints formed where two bones meet.
    o Frontal suture:
    Frontal sutures lies in between the frontal bone
    o Coronal suture:
    It lies in between the frontal and parietal bone and extends from one
    temporal bone to the other
    o Sagittal suture:
    It lies in between two parietal bones
    o Lambdoidal suture:
    It lies in between the Occipital bone and parietal bone
    FONTANELLES
    Two or more sutures meet to form fontanelle.
    o Anterior fontanelle / Bregma
    It is formed by the fusion of Frontal suture, Coronal suture and Sagittal suture.
    It is broad, kite shape with length 3-4 cm and width 1.5 2 cm. It gets closed at the
    age of 1 years
    o Posterior Fontanelle / Lambda
    It is formed by the fusion of Sagittal suture and lambdoid suture. It is small,
    triangular in shape and gets closed at the age of 1 month.

    REGIONS AND LANDMARKS OF THE FETAL SKULL


    The skull is further separated into regions and within these, there are important
    landmarks. Land marks of the fetal skull includes
    The Occiput region
    It lies between Foramen magnum to posterior fontanelle.
    Subocciput region
    The part below the Occipital protuberance is known as Subocciput region
    Vertex region
    It is bounded by the anterior fontanelle, two parietal eminence and
    posterior fontanelle
    Sinciput / Forehead region:
    It is bounded by anterior fontanelle, two frontal boss and orbital ridges.
    Glabella:
    The point between the orbital ridges is known as glabella.
    Mentum:
    Tip of the chin is known as Mentum
    Sub-mentum:
    The part below the mentum where the face and neck fuse is known as
    Submentum.

    DIAMETERS OF THE FETAL SKULL


    There are six longitudinal diameters and two transverse diameters
    Longitudinal diameters
    Occipito frontal diameter: (11.5 cm)
    It lies between occipital protuberance to the glabella.
    Subocciptobregmatic diameter: (9.5 cm)
    It extends between suboccipital region to centre of the anterior fontanelle
    Suboccipitofrontal diameter: (10 cm)
    It lies between subocciptal region to centre of the frontal suture
    Mento vertical diameter: (13.5 cm)
    It extends from mentum to highest point of vertex slightly nearer to the
    posterior fontanelle. It is the largest diameter of the fetal skull.
    Submentovertical diameter: (11.5 cm)
    It lies between Submentum region to the highest point of verte
    Submentobregmatic diameter: (9.5 cm)
    It extends from submentum region to centre of the bregma

    Transverse diameters
    Bi temporal diameter: (8.2 cm)
    It is the smallest diameter in the fetal skull which extends between two
    temporal bones.
    Biparietal diameter: (9.5 cm)
    It is the diameter which lies between two parietal eminence

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