Civinini bar : incidence in North Indians and its clinical relevance

Abstract

Background and aim: Ossified pterygospinous ligament is a major cause of the entrapment of the Ungual nerve or a branch of the mandibular nerve and may cause mandibular neuralgia. It can also constitute an obstacle for the mandibular nerve block which is a preferred method for pain relief especially for the fractures of mandible or cancer patients. Systematic study of these bars in North Indian population is lacking. Therefore this study was carried out to see the incidence of ossified pterygospinous bars in North Indian population. Materials and methods: The present study was an attempt to find out the occurrence of ossified pterygospinous ligament (Civinini’s bar) in 116 dried skulls of unknown sex were taken and the presence of ossified pterygospinous bar was noted. Results: It was observed that the ossified pterygospinous bars which is present between pterygospinous process of lateral pterygoid plate and spine of sphenoid also called as Civinini’s bar can be divided into five types (Types I, n, III, IV, V). This bar encloses a foramen called as Civinini’s foramen. A total incidence of 18.10% of various types of pterygospinous bars was observed, out of which 1.72% were Type 1,8.62% TypeH, 3.45% Type HI, 0% Type IV and 4.31% were of Type V variety. Conclusion: Total prevalence of Civinini bar is 18.10% in North Indian population.The clinicians working on this area should be aware of this variation as its prevalence is quite high.

Keywords

• pterygospinous bar
• ligament
• pterygoid plate
• spine of sphenoid
• neuralgia