Areas Of The Head

Question 1

Where is the anterior cranial fossa?

What are its borders?

Answer 1

The anterior cranial fossa is the most shallow and superior of the three cranial fossae. It lies superiorly over the nasal and orbital cavities. The fossa accommodates the anteroinferior portions of the frontal lobes of the brain.

The anterior cranial fossa consists of three bones: the frontal bone, ethmoid bone and sphenoid bone.

It is bounded as follows:

Anteriorly and laterally it is bounded by the inner surface of the frontal bone.

Posteriorly and medially it is bounded by the limbus of the sphenoid bone. The limbus is a bony ridge that forms the anterior border of the prechiasmatic sulcus (a groove running between the right and left optic canals).

Posteriorly and laterally it is bounded by the lesser wings of the sphenoid bone (these are two triangular projections of bone that arise from the central sphenoid body).

The floor consists of the frontal bone, ethmoid bone and the anterior aspects of the body and lesser wings of the sphenoid bone.