Parietal Bone Flashcards

Examine the parietal bone's surfaces, borders, angles, sutures, muscle attachments, vascular grooves, and important cranial landmarks.

Card 1 of 30Question

Where are the parietal bones located?

On the superior and lateral aspects of the cranium, forming much of the cranial vault.

In This Section

1. Where are the parietal bones located?

On the superior and lateral aspects of the cranium, forming much of the cranial vault.

2. How many parietal bones are present in the normal adult skull?

Two, one on each side of the cranial vault.

3. What type of bones are the parietal bones?

Paired, approximately quadrilateral flat bones of the neurocranium.

4. How many surfaces, borders, and angles does each parietal bone have?

Two surfaces, four borders, and four angles.

5. What are the two surfaces of the parietal bone?

An external convex surface and an internal concave surface.

6. What is the parietal eminence?

A rounded prominence near the center of the external surface marking the primary ossification region.

7. What are the four borders of the parietal bone?

The sagittal, frontal, occipital, and squamous borders.

8. Which suture joins the right and left parietal bones?

The sagittal suture.

9. Which suture joins the parietal bone to the frontal bone?

The coronal suture.

10. Which suture joins the parietal bone to the occipital bone?

The lambdoid suture.

11. Which suture connects the inferior border of the parietal bone to the squamous temporal bone?

The squamous suture.

12. What are the four angles of the parietal bone?

The frontal, sphenoidal, occipital, and mastoid angles.

13. What is the bregma?

The junction of the sagittal and coronal sutures at the frontal angles of the parietal bones.

14. What is the lambda?

The junction of the sagittal and lambdoid sutures at the occipital angles of the parietal bones.

15. Which four bones meet near the sphenoidal angle of the parietal bone?

The frontal, parietal, sphenoid, and temporal bones.

16. What is the pterion?

An H-shaped or variably configured sutural region where the frontal, parietal, sphenoid, and temporal bones meet.

17. Which cranial landmark is associated with the mastoid angle of the parietal bone?

The asterion, where the parietal, occipital, and temporal bones meet.

18. What are the superior and inferior temporal lines on the parietal bone?

Two curved ridges on the external surface that continue posteriorly from the frontal bone.

19. Which fascial structure attaches along the superior temporal line?

The temporal fascia.

20. Which muscle originates from the parietal bone inferior to the inferior temporal line?

The temporalis muscle.

21. What is the parietal foramen?

A small, variable opening near the posterior portion of the sagittal border of the parietal bone.

22. Which vessel may pass through the parietal foramen?

A parietal emissary vein connecting extracranial veins with the superior sagittal sinus.

23. Which artery produces branching grooves on the internal surface of the parietal bone?

The middle meningeal artery and its branches.

24. What produces the sagittal sulcus along the internal superior border of the parietal bone?

The superior sagittal dural venous sinus.

25. What are granular foveolae on the internal surface of the parietal bone?

Small depressions formed by arachnoid granulations, especially near the superior sagittal sinus.

26. What are the three principal layers of a typical parietal bone?

An outer compact table, a middle diploic layer, and an inner compact table.

27. How does the parietal bone primarily develop?

Through intramembranous ossification from a primary ossification center in the membranous neurocranium.

28. Which fontanelle lies near the junction of the frontal angles of the parietal bones in infants?

The anterior fontanelle.

29. Which intracranial hemorrhage may result from a fracture near the pterion?

An epidural hematoma caused by injury to the middle meningeal artery.

30. What skull shape can result from premature fusion of the sagittal suture?

Scaphocephaly, an elongated and narrow skull caused by sagittal craniosynostosis.