Bojana, Krstonošić, Biljana, Srdić, Dušica, Marić, Saša, Mijatov, Radmila, Gudović, Siniša, Babović
Foramen magnum (FM) is the comunicational opening between cranial cavity and spinal canal. Usually, it is egg shaped, with it's narrower end placed anterior. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the measurements of the FM and their relation to gender, as well as to analyse the variations in the shape of the FM. We examined 19 adult human skulls (12 male and 7 female) from the Osteological collection at the Department of Anatomy of Medical Faculty in Novi Sad. We observed 10 character traits for visual assessment of sex determination of cranium, using the profocol modified from Ferembach et al. (1980) and from Buikstra et al. (1994). The sagittal diameter (SD), transverse diameter (TD) and the area (A) of the FM were measured using the software program 'Image J'. Our findings showed that the dimensions of the FM were greater in males than in females: SD (46.3±4.01 mm vs. 41.39±2.18 mm, p<0.01), TD (39.85±4.53 mm vs. 35.65±3.12 mm, p<0.05) and A (1349.62±247.83 mm2 vs. 1077.77±149.07 mm2, p<0.01). According to the identity with the shape, the FM was classified in seven types: egg type, oval, round, tetragonal, pentagonal, hexagonal and irregular type. Most common type of the observed FM (31.6%) was the hexogonal one. The knowledge of gender differences in the dimensions of the FM and the variations of it's shape has diagnostic and clinical importance.
