Pterygospinous Bar and Foramen in the Adult Human Skulls of North India: Its Incidence and Clinical Relevance

Study of skulls has attracted the attention of anatomists since ages and sporadic attempts have been made to study skulls from time to time. Talking about the pterygoid processes of sphenoid bone, the irregular posterior border of lateral pterygoid plate usually presents, towards its upper part, a pterygospinous process, from which the pterygospinous ligament extends backwards and laterally to the spine of sphenoid. This ligament sometimes gets ossified as pterygospinous bar and a foramen is then formed, named pterygospinous foramen, for the passage of muscular branches of mandibular nerve. The present study was undertaken to observe the incidence and status of pterygospinous bony bridge and foramen, its variations, and clinical relevance in the adult human skulls of North India. For this purpose, 500 skulls were observed, belonging to the Anthropology Museum of Department of Anatomy, GSVM Medical College, Kanpur. Pterygospinous bars were found to be present in 51 skulls (10.2%), out of which completely ossified pterygospinous bony bridges were present in 20 skulls (4%) while 31 skulls (6.2%) had incompletely ossified pterygospinous ligaments. Such variations are of clinical significance for radiologists, neurologists, maxillofacial and dental surgeons, and anaesthetists, too.