Study on persistent metopic sutures in south Indian adult dry skulls

J Jayarani

Abstract          Objective: The present study aims at the presence of persistent metopic sutures in south Indian adult skulls in various forms. The two halves of frontal bones are separated by the persistence of frontal suture in the adult skulls are called Metopism. The fusion of metopic suture starts at around 18 months after birth and is completed by 8-9 years of age. Methods: This study was carried on 120 south Indian adult dry skulls, collected from the museum of anatomy department in Tirunelveli Medical College, Tirunelveli. The skulls were inspected at the normal frontalis for the presence of the metopic suture. The sutures were classified as complete and incomplete. The incomplete ones were classified as linear type, ‘V’ shape and ‘U’ type. Results: 95 out of 120 skulls were found to have no metopic sutures. Complete metopic sutures extending from bregma to glabella was observed in 7 skulls (5.8%) (Figure 1) and the incomplete form was noted in 18 skulls (15%). Among incomplete type 9 skulls (7.5%) were revealed midline linear metopic sutures (Figure 2), 3 skulls (2.5%) showed V shaped metopic sutures. U shaped and inverted U shaped was noted in 2 skulls (1.7%) respectively. Each skull (0.8%) showed the Y shaped & H shaped type respectively. Conclusion: 25 (20.8%) out of 120 skulls showed the persistent metopic sutures in various forms with increase incidence of incomplete type (15%) with predominant linear(7.5%) variety. This work was done to contribute the scientific literature, providing Anatomical data and comparison of results with different authors.
Key words: fontanelle, nasion, bregma, metopism.