Osteology of the Skull and Cervical Spine

Question 1

how many bones are in the skull?

Answer 1

23

Question 2

what is the function of the skull

Answer 2

to house the brain, provide attachment for muscles, provide framework for the head

Question 3

what are flat, smooth bones formed by?

Answer 3

intramembranous ossification

Question 4

what are irregular bones formed by?

Answer 4

endochondral ossification

Question 5

what are pneumatised bones?

Answer 5

bones with air spaces

Question 6

how are flat and irregular bones distinguished?

Answer 6

by shape and embryological origin

Question 7

what are the 2 divisions of the skull

Answer 7

neurocranium and viscerocranium

Question 8

what is the neurocranium

Answer 8

bony case of the brain including cranial meninges

Question 9

what is the viscerocranium

Answer 9

anterior part of cranium that consists of bones around oral cavity, nasal cavity and most of the orbit

Question 10

what is the function of air spaces

Answer 10

to reduce weight and add resonance to the voice

Question 11

how many bones are in the neurocranium and what are they?

Answer 11

8 bones, frontal, ethmoid, sphenoid, occipital, temporal, parietal

Question 12

how many bones are in the viscerocranium, and what are they?

Answer 12

ethmoid, vomer, mandible, nasal, lacrimal, zygomatic, palatine, maxilla, inferior nasal conchae

Question 13

what is the vertex?

Answer 13

superior point of neurocranium in the middle

Question 14

what is the bregma

Answer 14

junction of sagittal and coronal suture

Question 15

what is the lambda

Answer 15

junction of lambdoid and sagittal suture

Question 16

what is the inion

Answer 16

most prominent point of external occipital protuberance

Question 17

what is the asterion

Answer 17

star shaped junction of suture between occipital, parietal and temporal bones

Question 18

what is the nasion

Answer 18

where frontonasal and internasal sutures meet

Question 19

what is the glabella

Answer 19

smooth part of frontal bone superior to nose (most projected part of the forehead)

Question 20

what is the pterion

Answer 20

H-shaped junction of sutures

Question 21

what bones meet at the pterion

Answer 21

frontal, parietal, temporal and greater wing of sphenoid bone

Question 22

why is the pterion clinically relevant?

Answer 22

it is structurally weak and vulnerable to injury

Question 23

what are the small islands of bone within the lambdoid suture called?

Answer 23

sutural/accessory or wormian bones

Question 24

what are sutures

Answer 24

type of fibrous joint

Question 25

what are fontanelles

Answer 25

fibrous membranes

Question 26

what is the periform aperture?

Answer 26

the interior nasal opening into the cranium

Question 27

what are the paired sinuses

Answer 27

frontal, ethmoidal, maxillary

Question 28

what does the spinal cord enter the skull through?

Answer 28

foramen magnum

Question 29

what foramen does the middle meningeal artery go through

Answer 29

the foramen spinosum

Question 30

where is the foramen spinosum?

Answer 30

in the sphenoid bone

Question 31

how many vertebrae are in the cervical spine?

Answer 31

7

Question 32

what do the cervical vertebrae allow

Answer 32

flexion and rotation

Question 33

what are ligament nuchae?

Answer 33

ligaments which attach external occipital protuberance and foramen magnum to spinous process of the vertebrae

Question 34

what do the ligament nuchae do?

Answer 34

support the head, resists flexion and is an attachment point for muscles

Question 35

what are the parts of the typical vertebrae?

Answer 35

body, transverse process, spinous process, anterior and posterior tubercles, foramen transversarium

Question 36

what are the parts of the atlas?

Answer 36

anterior arch, posterior arch,lateral mass, articular facet for dens, superior articular facet for occipital condyle

Question 37

what is the part of the axis?

Answer 37

superior articular facet for the atlas, dens, transverse foramen, lateral mass

Question 38

what does the atlas not have?

Answer 38

a body

Question 39

what does the atlas provide

Answer 39

an articular surface for occipital condyle of skull

Question 40

what are the joints involved in the vertebrae?

Answer 40

lateral atlanto-axial joint and pivot joint of dense, and atlanto-occipital joint

Question 41

what does the lateral atlanto-axial joint allow?

Answer 41

rotation of head

Question 42

what does the atlanto-occipital joint allow?

Answer 42

flexion and extension (nodding)

Question 43

what do alar ligaments do?

Answer 43

prevent excessive rotation of the head and neck and connects the dens to occipital condyles

Question 44

what is the hyoid bone?

Answer 44

U-shaped bone found at C3 level in anterior neck

Question 45

what are the parts of the hyoid bone?

Answer 45

2 greater horns, body, 2 lesser horns

Question 46

what do the 2 lesser horns of the hyoid bone attach to?

Answer 46

stylohyoid ligament