Sectional anatomy of the olfactory pathways.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to provide practical anatomic data for imaging diagnosis of olfactory pathways and operation of nasal cavity and anterior cranial fossae.


METHODS
Sectional anatomy of olfactory pathways were investigated specially on 17 sets of Chinese adult cadavers and 9 sets of serial magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of normal adult on serial transverse, sagittal and coronal sections respectively.


RESULTS
We recognized olfactory bulb, olfactory tract, medial and lateral olfactory striae, olfactory trigone, anterior perforated substance and piriform lobe on transverse, sagittal and coronal sections respectively. On the 5-7 serial coronal sections from crista galli of ethmoid bone to the optic chiasm, the cusp ellipse olfactory bulb and the triangular tract were situated in the shallow part of the olfactory sulcus.


CONCLUSIONS
The olfactory bulb and olfactory tract lay tightly on the ethmoidal cribriform plate and jugum sphenoidale, in the olfactory cistern of the shallow part of the olfactory sulcus, the ethmoid sinus and sphenoid sinus inferiorly.
Chen
C C
CC
Department of Human Anatomy, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, China.
Huang
F
F
Zheng
J W
JW
Fu
S Q
SQ
Kong
F Z
FZ
Chen
Z X
ZX
Yang
X D
XD
Zang
C S
CS
D000328:Adult; D002102:Cadaver; D035262:Cranial Fossa, Anterior / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005004:Ethmoid Bone / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009296:Nasal Cavity / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D009833:Olfactory Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D009897:Optic Chiasm / Q000033:anatomy & histology