Abstract
Objectives
To analyze embryological development of the ethmoidal fovea and the horizontal ethmoidal plate and measure the thickness of the latter during the various stages of gestation, and whether to determine if, during the intrauterine life, there are different types of fovea according to the Keros classification.
Methods
A retrospective, descriptive, and comparative study was made using 92 human fetuses. Morphometry was made and inferential statistics and correlations and autocorrelations during different stages were done.
Results
The morphological structures of the fovea are recognized during the 14th week. In 32-week-old fetuses measurements of the fovea did not vary in proportion to the rest of the structures. In all the specimens studied, the type of roof was type I, agreeing with Keros' classification. As for the measurements of the thickness of the fovea, width and length of the crista Galli apophysis, they were significant (p <0,001), strongly supporting their growth in relation to the crown-caudal length.
Conclusions
As for the various anatomic variants that are observed in the adults, according to Keros' classification, there were no variants in all the fetuses studied as such variants we can assure, at least in the population studied, that these appear until after birth upon development of the middle third of the face.
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