sphenoidal fontanelle
A doctor gently palpates the sphenoidal fontanelle of a calm infant during a checkup.
Noun: - An anatomical gap in the infant skull: The sphenoidal fontanelle is one of the soft, membranous gaps (fontanelles) located on each side of an infant's skull. It is found where the frontal bone, parietal bone, temporal bone, and the greater wing of the sphenoid bone converge. This area later becomes the pterion, a junction point, after the bones fuse through ossification.
The term is used specifically in medical, anatomical, and pediatric contexts to describe a normal feature of the neonatal skull. - The pediatrician checked the infant's sphenoidal fontanelle during the routine examination. - Premature closure of a sphenoidal fontanelle can sometimes indicate a developmental issue.
- Clinical assessment: In medicine, the fontanelles, including the sphenoidal, are assessed for size, tension, and timing of closure as indicators of intracranial pressure, hydration status, and normal bone development.
- Bulging of the sphenoidal fontanelle can be a sign of increased intracranial pressure.
- Fontanelle (noun): The general term for any soft spot between the unfused cranial bones of an infant. The sphenoidal fontanelle is one of several, with the anterior (frontal) fontanelle being the largest and most well-known.
- Pterion (noun): The anatomical landmark on the side of the skull where the sphenoid, parietal, frontal, and temporal bones meet in an adult after ossification is complete. The sphenoidal fontanelle corresponds to the future site of the pterion.
- Anterolateral fontanelle: An alternative clinical name for the sphenoidal fontanelle.
- Anterolateral fontanelle
- Sphenoid fontanel (alternative spelling)
This term has a single, highly specific meaning in human anatomy. It does not have general or figurative uses.
A doctor gently palpates the sphenoidal fontanelle of a calm infant during a checkup.
- the irregularly shaped area on either side of the cranium where the frontal bone and the anterior tip of the parietal bone and the temporal bone and the greater wing of the sphenoid bone meet; corresponds to the pterion when bones have ossified