Among the techniques used in orthognathic surgery is the Le Fort I osteotomy in which a important surgical step is the disjunction of the spheno-maxillary suture. During this procedure surgical complications, such as neurovascular injuries sometimes occur, mainly due to lack of knowledge of regional anatomy and poor positioning of chisels. The aim of this work is to contribute for this surgical technique to become more predictable, offering morphometric data of the main anatomical landmarks of the pterygopalatine region. The height of the spheno-maxillary suture was on average 13.22mm in men and 12.47mm in women; the width of the spheno- maxillary suture was on average 11.40mm in men and 11.02mm in women, the distance from the point of greatest concavity of zigomaticoalveolar crest until spheno-maxillary suture was on average 25.12mm in men and 23.80mm in women; the distance between the lowest portion of the spheno-maxillary suture and the inferior orbital fissure was on average 31.12mm in men and 29.61mm in women. The values obtained in our study may be used as a parameter in performing the technique of spheno-maxillary suture disjunction, making it more predictable and with less risk of complications.
KEY WORDS: Pterygopalatine region; Spheno-maxillary disjunction; Orthognathic surgery.
ALVES, N. Anatomical study of the pterigopalatine region in macerated skulls of Brazilians aiming to contribute to the improvement of spheno-maxillary suture disjunction technique. Int. J. Morphol., 31(2):480-484, 2013.
