Parietal bone

Study entry

Parts

A pair of flat, curved bones that form the roof and sides of the calvaria, between the frontal and the occipital. The outer surface widens backward at the parietal eminences.

Joints

Sutures: sagittal (between the two parietals), coronal (with the frontal), lambdoid (with the occipital) and with the squamous part of the temporal bone and the greater wing of the sphenoid (at the pterion).

Clinical

The pterion, where the frontal, parietal, sphenoid and temporal meet, lies over the anterior branch of the middle meningeal artery.

Source: cap. 8, «Cráneo»

Other structures in this region

• Thyroid cartilage
• Cricoid cartilage
• Arytenoid, corniculate and cuneiform cartilages
• Epiglottis (epiglottic cartilage)
• Membranes and ligaments of the larynx (conus elasticus and quadrangular membrane)
• Frontal bone
• Occipital bone
• Temporal bone