Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus V: Skeletal Systems: Cranium

Parietal Bone

Ronald A. Bergman, PhD
Adel K. Afifi, MD, MS
Ryosuke Miyauchi, MD
Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed

Occasionally, the interparietal region of the skull remains separate throughout life; the space-filling bone may be the interparietal or Inca bone, or a large sutural bone termed the preinterparietal bone. In one study of 500 adult Indian skulls (Singh, et al.) the interparietal bone was present in 8 cases (or an incidence of 1.6%). It was single in 2 cases (0.4%) and multiple in 5 (1%). In one case it was present unilaterally. The preinterparietal bone was present in 4 cases (0.8%). It was single in 2 (0.4%) cases and multiple in 2 cases (0.4%).

Rarely, the parietal bone is composed of two pieces, one superior to the other, separated by an anteroposterior suture (subsagittal suture) which is almost parallel with the sagittal suture. In these cases the two primary centers of ossification are believed to have failed to fuse. The sagittal suture may be absent.

In very rare cases, vertical sutures divide the parietal bone into three or four parts. The parietal foramina are occasionally greatly enlarged. One foramen transmits a vein to the superior sagittal sinus and a small branch of the occipital artery to the dura mater. Parietal foramina occur in 60% of skulls; they may be absent, however, on one or both sides. The foramina are believed to be the remains of the fetal sagittal fontanelle. In the great fontanelle between the paired frontal and parietal bones, an accessory ossicle, os bregmaticum, may be found either free or fused with one of the frontals or parietals. In addition, at the anterior inferior angle (the so-called sphenoidal fontanelle) of the same (great) fontanelle, another ossicle may persist, os pterion.

A large groove (sinus of Breschet) may occur on the intracranial face, parallel to the coronal suture and extending from the bregma to the lesser wing of the sphenoid.

Supernumerary Parietal Bone Sutures and Wormian Bones.

Bipartite Parietal Bone. Enlarged Parietal Bone.

Peculiar Spine Arising from the Sagittal Border of the Squama of Temporal Bone. Bipartite Scaphoid Bone. M. Thyro-Esophagus.

Image 37

Wormian Occipital and Interparietal Bones

Parietal bone foramina

References

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