Purpose

The occipital bone is located on the boundary between the membranous and cartilage bones and contains a wide variety of accessory sutures. In this study, we describe the age distribution of pediatric patients who are less than 2 years of age with occipital cranial sutures using a three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT).

Methods

A total of 167 consecutive patients who are less than 2 years of age and underwent computed tomography for head trauma were included in this study.

Results

Based on the results of this study, various types of sutures were observed among the pediatric participants. In particular, superior median fissures, mendosal sutures, other interparietal segment’s accessory sutures, and interparietal sutures were noted in 21%, 35%, 9%, and 6% of the participants, respectively. Additionally, Wormian bones within the lambdoid suture were noted in 32% of the patients. The median age of children with superior median fissure and mendosal suture was 0 month. Meanwhile, superior median fissure was not observed among children older than 5 months of age. In this population, 13 patients (8%) were found to have skull fracture.

Conclusions

Knowledge of the normal cranial anatomy and developmental patterns of cranial sutures is crucial in the evaluation of questionable fractures in the occipital region. A combination of 3D-CT and axial bone window imaging is useful in differentiating normal structures from pathological changes in the cranium.

中文翻译：

---

小于2岁儿童的枕骨颅缝线发育变化。

目的

枕骨位于膜和软骨骨之间的边界上，并包含各种各样的辅助缝合线。在这项研究中，我们使用三维计算机断层扫描（3D-CT）描述了年龄小于2岁的有枕颅缝线的小儿患者的年龄分布。

方法

这项研究共纳入了167名连续的，年龄小于2岁且接受了颅脑外伤的计算机体层摄影术的患者。

结果

根据这项研究的结果，在儿科参与者中观察到了各种类型的缝合线。尤其是，分别有21％，35％，9％和6％的参与者发现了上中位裂隙，月经缝线，其他壁间段的辅助缝线和壁间缝线。此外，在32％的患者中发现了羊肠缝合物中的蠕虫骨。具有较好的中位裂隙和月经缝线的儿童的中位年龄为0个月。同时，在5个月以上的儿童中未观察到较高的中位裂痕。在该人群中，发现13例（8％）颅骨骨折。

结论

了解颅骨缝线的正常颅骨解剖结构和发育方式对于评估枕骨可疑骨折至关重要。3D-CT和轴向骨窗成像的结合可用于区分颅骨的病理结构与正常结构。