Internal morphology of the nonsyndromic prematurely fused sagittal suture in the human skull – A preliminary micro-CT study

Although nonsyndromic craniosynostosis (NSC) of the sagittal suture is a well-known type of craniosynostosis, little is currently known about the internal morphology of this prematurely fused suture in modern humans. Recently, micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) has been applied as a new tool for the quantitative evaluation of cranial suture morphology. However, so far there are only a small number of reports concerning studies of the internal morphology of prematurely fused sagittal suture in humans using micro-CT. The primary aim of this study was to examine the internal morphology of a completely obliterated sagittal suture in NSC.Two modern human skulls were used in this study: a skull of a child (aged 10 ± 2.5 years) displaying NSC of the sagittal suture and a skull of an adult showing non-prematurely completely obliterated sagittal suture. Quantitative variables of the sagittal sutures were assessed using method proposed by the authors. Porosity, and relative thickness of three bone layers in two examined skulls (inner cortical, diploë and outer cortical) were analysed using micro-CT in three equal sections of the sagittal suture. In the case of the prematurely fused suture, there were statistically significant differences mainly in the mean values of the porosity, thickness and relative thickness of the diploë between the anterior part and the two other parts (central and posterior) of this suture. Significant differences were also observed in some of the analysed variables between the sections of the sagittal suture of the skull with NSC and the normal skull.