Radiology, Vol 196, 747-756, Copyright © 1995 by Radiological Society of North America
Suture closure in the human chondrocranium: CT assessment
LA Madeline and AD Elster
Department of Radiology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1022, USA.
PURPOSE: To chronicle the development of ossification centers, sutures, and
synchondroses in the chondrocranium throughout childhood by using computed
tomography (CT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred eighty- nine children
(age range, newborn to 18 years; median age, 4.0 years) without skull base
deformity were referred for cranial CT. The closure of 18 sutures and
synchondroses was graded. RESULTS: In the occipital bone at birth, six
components were identified. The Kerckring ossicle rapidly fused to the
supraoccipital bone within the 1st month. At age 1- 3 years, the posterior
and anterior intraoccipital synchondroses began to fuse. The
occipitomastoidal, petro-occipital, and spheno-occipital synchondroses
remained partially open into the teenage years. In the sphenoid bone at
birth, 13 ossification centers were identified; most assimilated into the
sphenoidal body during the first 2 years. Pneumatization of the sphenoid
sinus appeared at age 1-2 years and advanced posteriorly over the next 3-5
years. CONCLUSION: The complex process of skull base development is
chronicled, which provides CT standards for judgment of the patterns and
timing of sutural or synchondrosal closure.
