Normative Morphometric Study of Nasal Bones and Piriform Aperture in Human Dry Skulls: Establishing Baseline Data with Clinical Insights

Abstract

Background and aim: The piriform aperture (PA) is the skeletal aperture located in the middle part of the skull in norma frontalis. The dimensions of piriform aperture and nasal bones are important in different medical fields and this study aims to develop normative data and find gender differences of piriform apertures in northern Indian population which can provide valuable inputs in different clinical scenarios both in medical and surgical fields. Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was done over a period of 3 months after clearance from institutional ethical committee wherein 40 dry intact and properly maintained skulls were studied for nasal bone and piriform aperture dimensions by using calibrated vernier callipers and data was recorded in predesigned proforma and subjected to statistical analysis. Results: The most common shape of PA found in male and female genders was triangular to oval and triangular respectively. The mean nasal bone length and breadth in males and females was (15.4 ± 2.9 and 11.8 ± 2.8 with P<0.001) and (8.3 ± 2.3 and 6.9 ± 1.0 with P value of <0.026) respectively which is statistically significant. Significant differences were also found in PA breadths (males with 27.5 ± 2.2 and females with 24.3 ± 1.6 with P value <0.001) and piriform aperture index (PAI) (male with 85.3 ± 7.4 and female with 77.4 ± 7.2 with P value of <0.002). There was no statistically significant difference in PA lengths amongst different gender. Conclusion: Morphometric data obtained from our study may serve as base line data for comparison among different ethnicities and genders besides being valuable for various reconstructive procedures of nose. Keywords: Piriform aperture, Nasal bone, Piriform aperture index, Skull