Parietal bone

Hey everyone! It’s Matt from Kenhub, and in this tutorial, we will discuss the parietal bone. The parietal bones are situated on both sides of the neurocranium. They form large parts of the top and the side of the head. The bones are roughly square shaped and lie under the vertex which is the uppermost surface of the head. Each has a concave internal surface and a convex external surface.

The internal surface is covered with grooves for the middle meningeal artery. Other markings are the groove for sigmoid sinus near the mastoid angle, and the groove for superior sagittal sinus. The external surface features the superior and inferior temporal lines where the temporal fascia and temporal muscle attach to respectively. A parietal emissary vein connects the superior sagittal sinus with the veins of the scalp through the parietal foramen which is located at the back of the parietal bones.

The two parietal bones meet each other in the midline of the skull roof forming a serrated margin known as the sagittal suture. Apart from its opposite counterpart, each parietal bone is surrounded by 4 other bones. Anteriorly, it borders with the frontal bone at the coronal suture, posteriorly with the occipital bone at the lambdoid suture, laterally it comes in contact with the temporal bone at the squamous suture, and sphenoid bone at the sphenoparietal suture.

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