Sexual dimorphism and infraorbital foramen: a computerized tomography-scan study in a cohort of Senegalese population.

BACKGROUND: The infraorbital foramen (IOF) is an essential anatomical structure for maxillary block anesthesia in dental practice and maxillofacial surgery. The literature also reports the importance of knowing the morphometric characteristics of the IOF because it can be damaged. The aim of our study was to determine anthropometric characteristics of infraorbital foramen in Senegalese population in relationship with the sex. METHODS: A total of 87 CT-Scan of patients were included in our sample and data collected from patient's cerebral CT-Scan. The transverse and vertical diameters of the IOF and its distance to the nearest point of the infraorbital margin, lateral nasal border and lower border of the maxillary were measured, and the shape determined. RESULTS: Eighty-seven CT-scan of patients were analyzed. This research showed that the transverse diameter of the left IOF in female subjects was 5.05±0.205 and 4.97±0.22 in male patients. The mean vertical diameter of the right foramen found in our study was 5.30±0.191 for the female subject and 5.28 mm±0.137 for the men foramen was located at 46% on the line above the 2nd premolar. The right IOF was round in 52% of subjects. An accessory IOF was found in 20% of female subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge of the precise anatomical location of IOF is important in surgical procedures and reduce the relative risks during clinical procedures. This study showed many differences in the location of the IOF with Caucasians measurements done.

Morphology of the lateral fossa of the brain (sylvian valley): anatomo-radiological aspects and surgical application.

INTRODUCTION: The knowledge acquired on the lateral fossa of the brain (LFB) is heterogeneous and incomplete. Our goal was to provide a morphological description of the LFB and analyze the impact of these descriptions on the surgical approach of the region. METHODS: The morphology of LFB was studied on 40 cerebral hemispheres of 20 right-handed subjects aged 18-55 years with an MRI of 1.5 T. The anatomo-radiological identification of the two section levels preceded the description of the shapes of the LFB. From these landmarks, the forms presented by the LFB were identified and described on each of the transverse, sagittal and frontal planes. The comparison of the proportion of shapes made it possible to identify the typical shapes at each section level and on each section plane. RESULTS: The average age of the subjects was 33 years with extremes of 19 and 54 years including 7 women and 13 right-handed men. According to the plane and the level of section, 6 typical morphologies of the LFB have been described, 2 of which were identical. The forms did not vary according to the cerebral hemisphere or the sex of the subject. The set of typical morphologies made it possible to determine a reference subject called NSK which presented the greatest number of typical morphological characteristics. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of LFB anatomical imaging is of paramount importance in the pre-surgical evaluation of pathologies in this region. The reference subject will be used for our future biometric and three-dimensional manual reconstruction work in this region.

Variations in lung lymphatic drainage into the inferior tracheobronchial lymph nodes junction: Applications in lung cancer.

The group of inferior tracheobronchial lymph nodes (ITB) is a lymphatic junction through which the lymph from both lungs is carried. Lymphatic activity in this area can be used to assess the lymphatic spreading of lung cancers. Our aim was to quantify lymph drainage from the lung segments towards the ITB group and to determine the direction of the lymph flow into other mediastinal and abdominal lymph nodes. We injected dye directly into the subpleural lymphatic vessels in 100 lung segments of 25 fresh cadaver subjects; the cadavers were then dissected. Thirty-eight segments (38%) drained into the ITB group in 18 subjects. The drainage into the ITB group involved 15.6% of the upper lobe segments, 87.5% of the middle lobe segments, and 70.6% of the lower lobe segments in the right lung. On the left, 6.9% of the upper lobe segments and 83.3% of the lower lobe segments were drained into the ITB group. For three subjects, the dye did not pass beyond the ITB group. The efferent vessels of the ITB group drained towards the right paratracheal and tracheoesophageal chains in 12 subjects and through the left ascending recurrent chain in five subjects. For six subjects, the efferent channels reached the abdominal lymph nodes. A contralateral drainage involved 14 segments (36%). The size and variety of the segments that drain into the ITB group, coupled with the efferent contralateral mediastinal and abdominal pathways, account for the severity of metastasis to this area. Clin. Anat. 29:955-962, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.