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Updated: Dec 25, 2025
Author Spotlight: Three-Dimensional Cephalometric Landmark Annotation Demonstration on Human Cone Beam Computed Tomography Scans
Published on: September 8, 2023
Mastoid notch as a landmark for localization of the transverse-sigmoid sinus junction
Ruichun Li1, Lei Qi1, Xiao Yu1
1Department of Neurosurgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, 277 West Yanta Road, Xi'an, 710061, Shaanxi, China.
Background:
The top of the mastoid notch (TMN) is close to the transverse-sigmoid sinus junction. The spatial position relationship between the TMN and the key points (the anterosuperior and inferomedial points of the transverse-sigmoid sinus junction, ASTS and IMTS) can be used as a novel method to precisely locate the sinus junction during lateral skull base craniotomy.
Methods:
Forty-three dried adult skull samples (21 from males and 22 from females) were included in the study. A rectangular coordinate system on the lateral surface of the skull was defined to assist the analysis. According to sex and skull side, the data were divided into 4 groups: male&left, male&right, female&left and female&right. The distances from the ASTS and IMTS to the TMN were evaluated on the X-axis and Y-axis, symbolized as ASTS&TMN_x, ASTS&TMN_y, IMTS&TMN_x and IMTS&TMN_y.
Results:
Among the four groups, there was no significant difference in ASTS&TMN_x (p = 0.05) and ASTS&TMN_y (p = 0.3059), but there were significant differences in IMTS&TMN_x (p < 0.001) and IMTS&TMN_y (p = 0.01), and multiple comparisons indicated that there were significant differences between male&left and female&left both in IMTS&TMN_x (p = 0.0006) and in IMTS&TMN_y (p = 0.0081). In general, the ASTS was located 1.92 mm anterior to the TMN on the X-axis and 27.01 mm superior to the TMN on the Y-axis. For the male skulls, the IMTS was located 3.60 mm posterior to the TMN on the X-axis and 14.40 mm superior to the TMN on the Y-axis; for the female skulls, the IMTS was located 7.84 mm posterior to the TMN on the X-axis and 19.70 mm superior to the TMN on the Y-axis.
Conclusions:
The TMN is a useful landmark for accurately locating the ASTS and IMTS.
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