Study of Anatomical Types of Pterion for Pterional Surgical Approach

Sachin Patil, Dharmendra Kumar 1Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, ANIIMS, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. 2Associate Professor & Head, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, ANIIMS, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2454.8642.201916 Introduction: Pterion is useful anatomical landmark for neurosurgeons during operations on frontal lobe tumours, extradural haemorrhage, Roca’s speech area or pathologies of middle cerebral artery. Material and Methods: This study was conducted in the on 120 dry human skulls. On the both side of each skull, the morphology of pterion was examined based on Murphy’s classification. Results: On examining the sutural pattern and types of pterion we found that Sphenoparietal type of pterion was most common type while the least common type was the epipteric type of pterion. Percentage of types was Sphenoparietal type 73.75%, Fronto temporal type 9.08%, stellate type 20% and epipteric type 7.16%. Conclusion: Types of the pterion in normal skulls shows great degree of variations among individuals and different racial groups. Therefore, precise and scientific data ar e required when performing intracranial surgery.