Metopic Suture – Incidence and Morphology in South Indian Human Adult Skulls

Background: In the present study, the objectives were to determine the incidence of persistence of metopic sutures, their shape and extent in south Indian human adult skulls. Methods: The study was conducted on 100 human adult dry skulls which belong to the museum of the department of Forensic medicine & toxicology and the department of Anatomy, JJM Medical College, Davangere, Karnataka. The metopic sutures were classified as complete and incomplete types. The incomplete was divided into linear, ‘V’ shaped and ‘U’ shaped, which were further divided into three groups as present in the lower part of the frontal bone, in the upper part, and in the middle part. Results: From our observations, the metopic suture was present in 13 (13%) cases. The complete metopic suture was seen in 6 skulls (6%) and incomplete one in 7 (7%). Among the incomplete ones, linear was found in 5 (5%), ‘V’ shaped in 1 (1%) and ‘U’ shaped type in 1 (1%) cases. In 7 (7%), cases it was observed in the lower part of frontal bone, but no suture remnant was found in the upper and lower part of frontal bone. Conclusion: Due to the paucity in the availability of the skulls, a lesser number of sample size was taken in our study. But a good analysis can be done with a larger sample size, to give a constructive data.