Diploe thickness and cranial dimensions in males and females in mid-Anatolian population: An MRI study

Background: The objective of this study is the classification of the thickness of diploe and dimensions of cranium at different points of cranium in men and women according to age groups. Material and method: In the radiology archive, measurements were made at different points in magnetic resonance (MR) images of 305 (188 females and 117 males) patients, the average ages of whom were 40.98 +/- 20.44 (age range: 4-90) and who had no disorder of the bones. To determine diploe thickness, midfrontal, back and front bregma, lambda, opisthocranion and euryon points were used in the measurement. As for the determination of cranial volume, distances between glabella-opisthocranion, basion-vertex, basion-opisthion, euryon-euryon, nasion-basion, nasion-bregma, bregma-lambda and lambda-opisthocranion were measured. The data were loaded to Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 16.0 program. T-test, Mann-Whitney U, Pearson correlation coefficient and Kruskal-Wallis variance analysis were used in the statistical assessment. Results with a p value smaller than 0.05 were accepted as significant. Results: There was a statistically significant positive correlation between age and diploe thickness in all measurement points. The diploe thickness was also increased with age (p < 0.05). In all points, average diploe thickness was higher in age 61 and over than the other groups (p < 0.001). At the same time, diploe thickness in parietal bones was lower than frontal and occipital bones in both sexes. According to craniometric results cranium in males was bigger (p < 0.001). While the distance between glabella-opisthocranion increased in both sexes aged 61 and over, basion-vertex height decreased in women in the same group (p < 0.05). Interestingly, there was no meaningful statistical difference among age groups in terms of maximum cranial width (p > 0.05). Foramen magnum length decreased related to age in both men and women (p < 0.001). Conclusion: These results related to diploe thickness and cranium dimension may be leading in the determination of sex and age; surgical interventions to the cranium and bone graft choice may increase the reliability of the operation. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.