Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In craniometry, the region where the frontal, squamosal, parietal, and sphenoid bones meet or approach one another.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun anatomy The point corresponding with the
posterior end of the sphenoparietal suture; known as theweakest part of theskull .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the craniometric point in the region of the sphenoid fontanelle
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Injuries like this usually happen to the thin area in the temple called the "pterion".
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The squamosal suture arches backward from the pterion and connects the temporal squama with the lower border of the parietal: this suture is continuous behind with the short, nearly horizontal parietomastoid suture, which unites the mastoid process of the temporal with the region of the mastoid angle of the parietal.
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One, the pterion ossicle, sometimes exists between the sphenoidal angle of the parietal and the great wing of the sphenoid.
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At the tip of the great wing is a triangular portion, bevelled at the expense of the internal surface, for articulation with the sphenoidal angle of the parietal bone; this region is named the pterion.
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In order to mark out the lateral cerebral (Sylvian) fissure a point, termed the Sylvian point, which practically corresponds to the pterion, is defined 35 mm. behind and 12 mm. above the level of the frontozygomatic suture; this point marks the spot where the lateral fissure divides.
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The point corresponding with the posterior end of the sphenoparietal suture is named the pterion; it is situated about 3 cm. behind, and a little above the level of the zygomatic process of the frontal bone.
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Sometimes referred to in neurosurgical circles as "God's little joke", the bony pterion is not just a hazard zone because it is so thin, but also on account of a big artery, the middle meningeal, which runs immediately beneath it.
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A direct blow to the pterion, or even an indirect blow to another part of the skull, may cause a fracture to this weak area, with an associated rupture of the underlying vessel.
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Fridays 8pm - 11pm on WFMU 91.1 fm 90.1 fm whitney music box (Jim Bumgardner) pterion
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The line of the lower margin behind is that of the transverse sinus (see page 1294), or more roughly a line convex upward from the inion to the posterior root of the zygomatic process of the temporal bone; thence along the posterior two-thirds of the upper border of the zygomatic arch where the line turns up to the pterion; the front part of the lower margin extends from the pterion to the glabella about 1 cm. above the supraorbital margin.
yarb commented on the word pterion
Then, standing before a closet mirror, he put the automatic to his head, at the point of the pterion, and pressed the comfortably concaved trigger.
- Nabokov, Ada, or Ardor
June 5, 2008