Head and Neck Anatomy

Question 1

What is the upper part of the cranium called?

Answer 1

The vault

Question 2

What is the lower part of the cranium called?

Answer 2

The floor/base of skull

Question 3

Describe a cross section of a skull bone.

Answer 3

Inner and outer layers of compact bone and an internal layer of spongy, cancellous bone otherwise known as diploii

Question 4

How are the bones of the skull connected?

Answer 4

But immobile joints called sutures

Question 5

List the bones of the vault.

Answer 5

Frontal, parietal, occipital

Question 6

What are the sutures of the vault?

Answer 6

Coronal suture - between the frontal and parietal bones
Sagittal suture - between the parietal bones
Lambdoid suture - between the parietal bones and the occipital bone

Question 7

What 4 bones form the pterion suture?

Answer 7

frontal, parietal, temporal and sphenoid bones

Question 8

What runs under the pterion and what is its significance?

Answer 8

The middle meningeal artery which is the main blood supply to the cranial bones and the underlying tissue i.e. the dura. If the pterion receives a sharp blow, the underlying broken bone is brittle and sharp-edged and may cause extradural haemorrhage.

Question 9

What are the two ‘parts’ of the frontal bone?

Answer 9

Vertical (the forehead) and the horizontal part (orbital surfaces/plates that project into the orbits forming their roofs).
The supraorbital margins denote where the vertical part becomes the horizontal part.

Question 10

Describe the parietal bones.

Answer 10

Flat, rectangular and moulded to contour of the lateral brain

Question 11

Should there be a bump on the back of your head?

Answer 11

Yes. This is the external occipital protuberance which can be confused by those less educated as an aberrant outgrowth.

Question 12

What are the processes of the temporal bone?

Answer 12

• zygomatic process
• styloid process
• mastoid process
• petrous part of the temporal bone

Question 13

What is the anatomical name for the cheekbone and what bone attaches to it?

Answer 13

The cheekbone is known anatomically as the zygoma. It is connected to the zygomatic process of the temporal bone to make the zygomatic arch which is what is fractured in trauma to the cheekbone.

Question 14

What attaches to the styloid process?

Answer 14

Muscles of the oral cavity and pharynx

Question 15

What attaches to the mastoid process?

Answer 15

Sternocleidomastoid muscle

Question 16

What is significant about the apex of the petrous part of the temporal bone?

Answer 16

The trigeminal nerve sits there

Question 17

What is the shape of the sphenoid bone?

Answer 17

Bat-shaped with cut wings essentially. There is a lesser wing above (anteriorly) and a greater wing below (posteriorly) that are separated by the superior orbital fissure.

Question 18

What is significant about the central depression in the body of the sphenoid bone?

Answer 18

This is where the pituitary gland sits

Question 19

What is the body of the sphenoid bone otherwise known as?

Answer 19

Turkish saddle or sella turcica or the hypophysial fossa

Question 20

What are the 12 cranial nerve?

Answer 20

1. Olfactory
2. Optic
3. Oculomotor
4. Trochlear
5. Trigeminal
6. Abducens
7. Facial
8. Vestibulocochlear
9. Glossopharyngeal
10. Vagus
11. Accessory
12. Hypoglossal

Question 21

How do the cranial nerves exit the skull?

Answer 21

Through foraminae

Question 22

List the cranial fossa and what they hold.

Answer 22

• The anterior cranial fossa where the frontal lobe sits made up of the orbital plates,
• The middle cranial fossa where the temporal lobes sit,
• The posterior cranial fossa where the brainstem and cerebellum sit

Question 23

What is the bone sitting medial to the orbital plate of the frontal bone as viewed superiorly? What does it transmit?

Answer 23

The ethmoid bone with cribiform plate. It transmits the olfactory nerves.
Note that the cribiform plate is the only site of entry or exit for a neurovascular structure in the anterior cranial fossa.

Question 24

What structure transmits the optic nerve?

Answer 24

The optic canal situated where the lesser wing of sphenoid meets the greater wing of sphenoid medially

Question 25

What are the 3 divisions of the trigeminal nerve that make up the trigeminal ganglia?

Answer 25

Opthalmic, maxillary and mandibular

Question 26

What does the superior orbital fissure transmit?

Answer 26

The nerves to extraocular muscles and branches of trigeminal nerve

Question 27

What shape is the foramen rotundum and what does it transmit?

Answer 27

It is round and transmits the maxillary nerve.

Question 28

What shape is the foramen ovale and what does it transmit?

Answer 28

It is oval and transmits the mandibular nerve

Question 29

What shape is the foramen spinosum and what does it transmit?

Answer 29

It is small and it transmits the middle meningeal artery. The grooves formed by the middle meningeal artery onto the sphenoid bone and around the pterion point to this foramen.

Question 30

What is visibly significant about the superior orbital fissure and the foramina rotundum, ovale and spinosum respectively in that order?

Answer 30

These 4 holes form an arc of foraminae

Question 31

What is the name of the hole in the petrous part of the temporal bone and what does it transmit?

Answer 31

This is the internal acoustic/auditory meatus and it transmits the facial and vestibulocochlear nerves

Question 32

Where is the jugular foramen and what does it transmit?

Answer 32

The jugular foramen is between the petrous part of the temporal bone and the occipital bone and it transmits cranial nerves IX (glossopharyngeal), X (vagus) and XI (accessory), as well as the internal jugular vein.

Question 33

Where is the hypoglossal canal?

Answer 33

In the occipital bone.

No tricks: it conveys the hypoglossal nerve (cranial nerve XII

Question 34

What is the largest foramen at the base of skull and what does it transmit?

Answer 34

This is the foramen magnum and it transmits the brainstem.