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J Neurol Surg B Skull Base 2015; 76(04): 272-277
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1396598
Original Article
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Ossification of the Posterior Petroclinoid Dural Fold: A Cadaveric Study with Neurosurgical Significance

David Kimball
1   Department of Anatomical Sciences, St. George's University School of Medicine, Grenada, West Indies
,
Heather Kimball
1   Department of Anatomical Sciences, St. George's University School of Medicine, Grenada, West Indies
,
Petru Matusz
2   Department of Anatomy, Victor Babes University, Timisoara, Romania
,
R. Shane Tubbs
1   Department of Anatomical Sciences, St. George's University School of Medicine, Grenada, West Indies
3   Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Children's Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, United States
4   Department of Anatomy and Human Identification, Dundee University, United Kingdom
,
Marios Loukas
1   Department of Anatomical Sciences, St. George's University School of Medicine, Grenada, West Indies
5   Department of Anatomy, Medical School Varmia and Mazuria, Olsztyn, Poland
,
A. Aaron Cohen-Gadol
6   Department of Neurological Surgery, Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine, Indiana University
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

10 March 2014

27 October 2014

Publication Date:
02 March 2015 (online)

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Abstract

Objectives The roof of the porus trigeminus, composed of the posterior petroclinoid dural fold, is an important landmark to the skull base surgeon. Ossification of the posterior petroclinoid dural fold is an anatomical variation rarely mentioned in the literature. Such ossification results in the trigeminal nerve traversing a bony foramen as it enters Meckel cave. The authors performed this study to better elucidate this anatomical variation.

Design Fifteen adult cadaveric head halves were subjected to dissection of the middle cranial fossa. Microdissection techniques were used to examine the posterior petroclinoid dural folds. Skull base osteology was also studied in 71 dry human skulls with attention paid to the attachment point of the posterior petroclinoid dural folds at the trigeminal protuberances.

Setting Cadaver laboratory

Main Outcome Measures Measurements were made using a microcaliper. Digital images were made of the dissections.

Results Completely ossified posterior petroclinoid folds were present in 20% of the specimens. Of the 142 dry skull sides examined, 9% had large trigeminal protuberances.

Conclusions Based on this study, the posterior petroclinoid dural fold may completely ossify in adults that may lead to narrowing of the porus trigeminus and potential compression of the trigeminal nerve at the entrance to Meckel cave.

Keywords

microanatomy - petroclinoid dural fold - neurosurgery - cadaver dissection
 

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