The Occurrence of Wormian Bones within the Cranial Sutures and Their Clinical Significance

Address for Correspondence: Mr. Vivek Kumar, Tutor, Department of anatomy, Chirayu medical college and hospital, Bhopal, (M P), India. Mobile:07415176681,E-Mail: [email protected] Introduction: The Wormian bones are irregular isolated bones, are not normally present within the cranial sutures. They may or may not be associated with clinical abnormalities. They appear in addition to the usual centers of ossification of the cranium. In the present study, the aims were to find the occurrence of Wormian bones within the cranial sutures in dry adult Indian skulls. Material and Methods: The study included 50 human adult dry skulls of Indian population which were obtained from the Anatomy Museum of Chirayu Medical College and Hospital, Bhopal. They were examined systematically various sutures and its meeting point for the presence or absence of Wormian bones. Results: The Wormian bones were observed in 16 skulls (32%) and remaining 34 skulls (68%) didn’t show these variant bones. They were observed at the lambdoid suture in 44% cases (22 skulls; 7-right side; 15-left side), at the asterion in 6% (3 skulls; 1-right side; 2-left side), at the pterion in 2% (1 skull; 1-right side only), at the lambda in 6% cases (3 skulls) and at the occipitomastoid suture in 6% cases (3 skulls; 2-right side; 1-left side). Conclusion: The present study observed Wormian bones in 32% of the cases from Indian population. This incidence rate is lower compared to other reports and may be due to racial variations. These variant bones were more frequently seen at the lambdoid suture and were rare at the coronal and sagittal sutures. We believe that the knowledge of Wormian bones is of importance to the neuroanatomists, neurosurgeons, radiologists, anthropologists and morphologists.