Calvaria (skull)

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Bone: Calvaria (skull)
Kort-lang-skalle.gif
Gray's subject #47 189

The calvaria (or calva, skullcap, plural calvariae) is the upper part of the cranium and surrounds the cranial cavity containing the brain.

The calvaria (skull cap) is made up of the frontal, occipital and right and left parietals.

The outer surface of the skull possess a number of landmarks. The point at which the two parietal bones and frontal bones meet is known as "Bregma". The point at which the two parietal and occipital bone meet is known as "Lambda" Not only do these landmarks indicate the fontanelle in newborns they also act as reference points in medicine and surgery

In the fetus, the formation of the Calvaria involves a process known as intramembranous ossification, although the base of the skull (underlying the brain) develops through endochondral ossification.

[edit] Inner surface of the skull-cap

The inner surface of the skull-cap is concave and presents depressions for the convolutions of the cerebrum, together with numerous furrows for the lodgement of branches of the meningeal vessels.

Resistance structures of calvaria

Along the middle line is a longitudinal groove, narrow in front, where it commences at the frontal crest, but broader behind; it lodges the superior sagittal sinus, and its margins afford attachment to the falx cerebri.

Resistance structures of calvaria

On either side of it are several depressions for the arachnoid granulations, and at its back part, the openings of the parietal foramina when these are present.

It is crossed, in front, by the coronal suture, and behind by the lambdoidal, while the sagittal lies in the medial plane between the parietal bones.

[edit] References

  • Tubbs, R Shane; Loukas Marios, Shoja Mohammadali M, Apaydin Nihal, Salter E George, Oakes W Jerry (April 2008). "The intriguing history of the human calvaria: sinister and religious". Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery (Germany) 24 (4): 417–22. doi:10.1007/s00381-007-0509-0. ISSN 0256-7040. PMID 18026961. 

[edit] External links


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