62ª Reunião Anual da SBPC
C. Ciências Biológicas - 11. Morfologia - 2. Anatomia Humana
PERSISTENCE OF COMPLETE AND INCOMPLETE METOPIC SUTURE IN DRY SKULLS HUMAN ADULT
Fausto Pierdoná Guzen 2, 1, 3
José Rodolfo Lopes de Paiva Cavalcanti 2, 1
Priscila Figueiredo Brito Guzen 2
Tatiana Oliveira Souza 2
1. Universidade do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte - UERN
2. Faculdade de Enfermagem Nova Esperança de Mossoró - FACENE/RN
3. Universidade Potiguar - UnP
INTRODUÇÃO:

The frontal suture is a dense connective tissue structure that divides the two halves of the frontal bone of the skull in infants and children. It usually disappears by the age of six, with the two halves of the frontal bone being fused together. If it does not disappear it may be called a "metopic suture" or "sutura frontalis persistens". Through morphometric we analised of the percentage and the presence of partial and complete metopic sutures in dry skulls human.

METODOLOGIA:

Frontal bones of 127 dried human skulls were investigated in view of the presence of metopic suture. Through the pachymeter Measured was the percentage and extent of incomplete metopic sutures and complete.

RESULTADOS:

Of the 127 skulls examined 109 showed absence of metopic suture (85.83%) and 18 showed the presence of metopic suture (14.17%). Of the 18 skulls with metopic suture had 3 total (16.67%), and the extensions of the sutures were around 12 to 13cm. The remaining 15 skulls showed partial suture (83.33%), and the extensions of the sutures were around 0.7 to 5.5 cm. In some cases, metopic suture persists as an incomplete or complete suture extending from the nasion to the anterior angle of the bregma and the condition is called metopism. Incomplete types of metopic suture shows variations in the superior, middle and lower part of the frontal bone and are of different shapes. The most common shape observed is the linear type. In the presented case, a partial linear type persistent metopic suture was observed.

CONCLUSÃO:

In a patient with head injury, delayed closure of the metopic suture may be erroneously treated like a vertical fracture. Differential diagnosis should be meticulously planned. Persistent metopic suture can easily be diagnosed by antero-posterior X-rays. Although plain X-ray is enough to diagnose this anatomical variation, it may be strongly misdiagnosed with vertical fractures in the emergency setting. As a conclusion, despite the fact that metopism is not a rare anomaly as has been previously described in skull studies, diagnosing the persistent suture clinically in suspected head trauma patient may be problematic as it may be considered an evidence of traumatic vertical fractures.

Palavras-chave: Skull, Metopic Suture , Anatomical Variation.