Age-related changes in the anatomical landmarks of the osseous epipharynx

We investigated age-related spatial relations of the osseous epipharynx - the region between the vomer and the anterior border of the great occipital foramen (basion) on 60 skulls of both sexes: 16 adult (age range 21-59 years), 19 aged (age range 60-86 years), and macerated occipital bones, sphenoid bones, and vomers in 25 specimens of children disarticulated skulls aged 1-15 years. We measured the distances basion - tuberculum pharyngeum, tuberculum pharyngeum - ala vomeris, tuberculum pharyngeum - crista choanalis vomeris, basion - crista choanalis vomeris, width of the pars basilaris at the level of the tuberculum pharyngeum, narrowest width of the pars basilaris, width at the level of pyramidal apexes; and width at the level of laminae mediales processus pterygoidei of the sphenoid bone. We found a statistically significant increase in the frontal and sagittal measurements of the osseous epipharynx increasing from childhood to adulthood, without further significant changes into old age. In the aged adult and skulls, the distance from the tuberculum pharyngeum to the basion was half the distance to the vomer, whereas in children the ratio of these distances was 1:3. The major difference in the bony landmarks of the osseous epipharynx between children and adults were the attachments of muscles, m. longus capitis and m. rectus capitis anterior. Whereas the most common morphological feature of the m. longus capitis attachment was a bony fossa lateral to the tuberculum pharyngeum, the muscle attached to a prominent crest in children. These previously unreported findings illustrate the role of muscle activity in the formation of osseous landmarks of the epipharynx.