Fissure (anatomy)
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In anatomy, a fissure (Latin fissura, plural fissurae) is a groove, natural division, deep furrow, elongated cleft, or tear in various parts of the body also generally called a sulcus, or in the brain a sulcus.
Types
Brain
- Medial longitudinal fissure or Longitudinal fissure: which divides the cerebrum into the two hemispheres.
- Fissure of Bichat: found below the corpus callosum in the cerebellum of the brain.
- Broca's fissure: found in the third left frontal fold of the brain.
- Burdach's fissure: connects the brain's insula and the inner surface of the operculum.
- Calcarin's fissure: extends from the occipital of the cerebrum to the occipital fissure.
- Callosomarginal fissure: found in the mesial surface of the cerebrum.
- Central sulcus or Rolando's fissure: separates the brain's frontal and parietal lobes.
- Clevenger's fissure: found in the inferior temporal lobe of the brain
- Collateral fissure: found in the inferior surface of the cerebrum.
- Hippocampal sulcus: a sulcus that extends from the brain's corpus callosum to the tip of the temporal lobe.
- Horizontal fissure or Transverse fissure: found between the cerebrum and the cerebellum. Note that a "transverse fissure" can also be found in the liver and lungs.
- Occipitoparietal fissure: found between the occipital and parietal lobes of the brain.
- Fissure of Sylvius: separates the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain from the temporal lobe.
- Wernicke's fissure: separates the brain's temporal and parietal lobes from the occipital lobe.
- Zygal fissure: found in the cerebrum.
Skull
- Auricular fissure: found in the temporal bone
- Pterygomaxillary fissure
- Petrotympanic fissure
- Sphenoidal fissure: separates the wings and the body of the sphenoid bone.
- Superior orbital fissure
Liver
- Longitudinal fissure: found in the lower surface of the liver, also a fissure that separates the right and left hemispheres of the cerebrum.
- Portal fissure: found in the under-surface of the liver.
- Umbilical fissure: found in front of the liver.
Spinal cord
Lung
- oblique fissure of rt & lf lung
- horizontal fissure of right lung
Liver
- fissure for ligamentum teres hepatis
- fissure for ligamentum venosum
Other
- Henle's fissure: the connective tissue between the muscle fibers of the heart.
- Palpebral fissure: separates the upper and lower eyelids.
- Anal Fissure: a break or tear in the skin of the anal canal.
- Fissure of the nipple
Abnormal fissure
Fissure can also refer to an unnatural tract or ulcer, most commonly found in the anus and called an anal fissure.