title: The "polymorphous" history of a polymorphous skull bone: the sphenoid.
abstract: For a long time, because of its location at the skull base level, the sphenoid bone was rather mysterious as it was too difficult for anatomists to reach and to elucidate its true configuration. The configuration of the sphenoid bone led to confusion regarding its sutures with the other skull bones, its shape, its detailed anatomy, and the vascular and nervous structures that cross it. This article takes the reader on a journey through time and space, charting the evolution of anatomists' comprehension of sphenoid bone morphology from antiquity to its conception as a bone structure in the eighteenth century, and ranging from ancient Greece to modern Italy and France. The journey illustrates that many anatomists have attempted to name and to best describe the structural elements of this polymorphous bone.
authors.affiliation: Gr. T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania.|Nicolae Oblu Emergency Clinical Hospital, Iasi, Romania.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Costea
authors.affiliation: Gr. T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania. neurosurgeryiasi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Serban
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Turliuc
authors.affiliation: Nicolae Oblu Emergency Clinical Hospital, Iasi, Romania.
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cucu
authors.affiliation: Nicolae Oblu Emergency Clinical Hospital, Iasi, Romania.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dumitrescu
authors.affiliation: Gr. T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania.
authors.forename: Alexandru
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carauleanu
authors.affiliation: Gr. T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania.
authors.forename: Catalin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buzduga
authors.affiliation: Gr. T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania.|Nicolae Oblu Emergency Clinical Hospital, Iasi, Romania.
authors.forename: Anca
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sava
authors.affiliation: Gr. T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania.
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Costache
authors.affiliation: Gr. T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania.|Nicolae Oblu Emergency Clinical Hospital, Iasi, Romania.
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Turliuc
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D012658:Sella Turcica / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D019291:Skull Base / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013100:Sphenoid Bone / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000098:blood supply / Q000294:innervation
keywords: Anatomy; History; Sella turcica; Skull base; Sphenoid bone