fontanelle
Sign in to saveA fontanelle (or fontanel) (colloquially, soft spot) is an anatomical feature of the infant human skull comprising soft membranous gaps (sutures) between the cranial bones that make up the calvaria of a fetus or an infant. Fontanelles allow for stretching and deformation of the neurocranium both during birth and later as the brain expands faster than the surrounding bone can grow. Premature complete ossification of the sutures is called craniosynostosis.
Key facts
- Anatomy.Name
- Fontanelle
- Anatomy.Latin
- fonticuli cranii
- Anatomy.Image
- Gray197.png
- Anatomy.Caption
- The skull at birth, showing the anterior and posterior fontanelles
- Anatomy.Image2
- Gray198.png
- Anatomy.Caption2
- The skull at birth, showing the lateral fontanelles
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
2,443 papers- Anterior Fontanelle Dermoid Cyst: Surgical Technique.Cureus · 2021
- Bulging fontanelle in a febrile 9-month-old girl.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2024
- Ultrasonographic Measurement of Anterior Fontanelle Size in Infants with Deformational Plagiocephaly.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024
- A comprehensive review of the anterior fontanelle: embryology, anatomy, and clinical considerations.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2017
- Transillumination of an Anterior Fontanelle Dermoid Cyst.The Journal of craniofacial surgery · 2023
via PubMed
Article
13 sectionsContents
- Structure
- Closure
- Clinical significance
- Disorders
- Bulging
- Sunken
- Enlarged
- Third
- Other animals
- Primates
- Dogs
- Additional images
- References
A fontanelle (or fontanel) (colloquially, soft spot) is an anatomical feature of the infant human skull comprising soft membranous gaps (sutures) between the cranial bones that make up the calvaria of a fetus or an infant. Fontanelles allow for stretching and deformation of the neurocranium both during birth and later as the brain expands faster than the surrounding bone can grow. Premature complete ossification of the sutures is called craniosynostosis.
After infancy, the anterior fontanelle is known as the bregma.