Unknown foramen in the middle cranial fossa

Abstract

The sphenoid is a bone that is part of the neurocranium and is located in the middle cranial fossa. A lot of anatomic structures go through its foramina. The typical foramina found in the sphenoid bone are the following seven: optic canal, superior orbital fissure, foramen rotundum, inferior orbital fissure, foramen ovale, foramen spinosum and foramen lacerum. However, in a skull belonging to the collection of the anatomic laboratory of an university of the South of Brazil, it was found an unusual foramen in the body of the sphenoid bone, below the optic canal, connecting the middle cranial fossa with the nasal cavity; a foramen not yet described in the literature. The goal of this paper was to check the presence of this foramen in dry skulls that had their base exposed, verifying their prevalence in the collection of the anatomic labs of the participating universities. Therefore, a search was made in all of the skulls, following the inclusion criteria, in three universities of Rio Grande do Sul, looking for the same observed foramen. The analysis was performed in other 71 skulls, finding the uncommon foramen in another 3 skulls, making a total of 5.4%. Among them, two had this foramen unilaterally and the other two presented the foramen bilaterally (2.7 %). The analysis was performed in dry skulls. It was not possible to see what structures could go through it. The knowledge of the existence of this foramen entails the need to, in the future, research in other cadavers in gross anatomy available in these institutions in order to identify possible anatomic structures that cross this foramen as well as their functions. The discovery of this anatomic variations can benefit neurosurgeons, antropologists, radiologists and others professionals in the health field, as well as showing itself as a variation depending on other variables. Future perspectives of this study will be concentraded on the observation of the existence of this foramen in cadavers during dissection and removal of the brains.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.