Morphometric and Topographic Study of Foramen Ovale in Indian Skulls

Abstract

Foramen ovale is an important foramen for neurosurgeons and used for percutaneous trigeminal rhizotomy in trigeminal neuralgia. The present study was undertaken to study anatomic variations in appearance, dimensions of foramen ovale and its location in relation to the zygomatic arch. The study was conducted on 50 dry human skulls of known sex, available in the museum of Anatomy Dept. in G.S.V.M. Medical College, Kanpur.  The shape of foramen ovale and presence of any accessory bony structure like spur, spine, tubercle or bony plate were observed on both sides. The length and width of foramen ovale and its distance from articular tubercle and the anterior root of  Zygomatic Arch was  measured on both sides.  The metric data was statistically analysed for bilateral symmetry and sexual dimorphism. The shape of foramen ovale was typically oval in most of the skulls (66%). In 40% sides any accessory bony structure was not seen while bony plate in 45% sides, spine in 6% and bridge like bony septa dividing the foramen into two compartments in 2% was observed. The mean length and width of foramen ovale in male skulls was 7.50+/-0.90 mm and 4.20+/-0.70 mm and 7.7+/-1.00 mm and 3.9+/-0.80 mm in the female skulls.  The mean distance of foramen ovale from articular tubercle on Zygomatic arch was 32.8 +/- 2.8 mm in males and 31.1 +/- 2.4 mm in females. The mean distance from anterior root of Zygomatic arch was 21.4 +/- 1.9 mm in males and 21.6 +/- 1.7 mm in females. There was no significant difference in measurements of various metric parameters between right and left sides of foramen ovale (p>0.05) but highly significant difference was observed between male and female dimensions of all metric parameters.(p<0.001). Thus the foramen ovale does not exhibit bilateral symmetry but the sexual dimorphism is evident. The data is helpful for surgical practices.