Skull indices in a population collected from computed tomographic scans of patients with head trauma.

Background: It is important to find out the skull's anatomic indices with computed tomography (CT), especially the skull's dimensions according to the patients age and sex, because it can give important results in neurosurgery. We will also describe the skull's parameters among the Kerman population.

Method: Of the 2000 CT scans taken after head trauma injury in Kerman province from June 2002 to September 2006, we analyzed 1034 good quality films. The most frequent skull dimensions were measured on each film, and the data were computed and analyzed to assess the cranial indices in various ages and sexes. Two types of classifications were carried out: classic method, which uses cranial indices, and posterior fossa angle dimensions as an alternative method. Skull dimensions were statistically analyzed between groups, and any difference greater than 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: Of the 1034 films, 871 films belonged to the men and 184 to the women at age older than 5 years and younger than 70 years. Most of the CT films belonged to the patients with age older than 20 years and younger than 40 years in both sexes. Although the rates of various skull types were different according to the method of classification, the most frequent skull type was dolichocephalic followed by mesocephalic and brachycephalic in both sexes. In addition, in both sexes, the frequency of dolichocephaly was greater in children than adults, but brachycephaly was more frequent in adults than children.

Conclusions: With CT scans as an accurate and suitable source of anthropometric evaluation of body dimensions, we found that, in our population, the most frequent skull type is dolichocephalic followed by mesocephalic, which seems to be closer to the Anglo-Saxon population considering the rates of dolichocephaly and mesocephaly.