Cranial sutures are the fibrous joints that connect the bones of the skull, holding the cranial vault together while permitting growth and slight movement, particularly in infancy and childhood. In newborns, the sutures and the soft membranous gaps between them, known as fontanelles, allow the skull to flex during b…
Cranial sutures are the fibrous joints that connect the bones of the skull, holding the cranial vault together while permitting growth and slight movement, particularly in infancy and childhood. In newborns, the sutures and the soft membranous gaps between them, known as fontanelles, allow the skull to flex during birth and accommodate rapid brain growth in early life. As development proceeds, the sutures gradually narrow and the bones interlock, and over years they ossify and fuse, giving the adult skull its strength and stability. The major sutures include the coronal, sagittal, lambdoid, and metopic sutures. Abnormalities in suture development have important clinical significance: premature fusion, known as craniosynostosis, can restrict skull and brain growth and alter head shape, while the timing and state of suture closure are also relevant to anatomy, forensic age estimation, and neurosurgical and craniofacial practice. Research relevant to this topic includes clinical-anatomical study of the newborn's cranial vault, examining the structure of the infant skull and the perspective such anatomy offers for clinical care. Within the scope of Otolaryngology Advances, this page gathers peer-reviewed, open-access material relevant to cranial sutures and the anatomy and development of the skull and adjacent head-and-neck structures.
2 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.
The 2 articles above have been cited 12 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.
A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Cranial Sutures, linking to each citing work.