Ethmoid Bone in a Coronal Section of the Skull, Anterior View

Description

Centered in an anterior coronal section of the male skull, the ethmoid bone is highlighted around the superior nasal cavity, with the cribriform plate forming the roof of the nasal fossa and the crista galli projecting superiorly into the anterior cranial fossa. Laterally, the ethmoidal labyrinth occupies the space between the nasal cavity medially and the orbit laterally, where the lamina papyracea forms much of the medial orbital wall. Inferiorly, the perpendicular plate contributes to the nasal septum, articulating with the vomer and meeting the nasal cavity floor formed by the palatine processes of the maxilla and the horizontal plates of the palatine bones. Frontal bone and frontal sinuses lie superior and anterior, while the maxilla with the upper dentition sits inferior. This frontal, cross-sectional perspective matters because it clarifies the short anatomic distances that drive complications: the orbit laterally, the anterior cranial fossa superiorly, and the nasal cavity centrally. Endoscopic sinus surgery and septal procedures work along this corridor, where breach of the cribriform plate can cause cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea and anosmia from olfactory fila disruption, and injury to the lamina papyracea can lead to orbital emphysema or extraocular muscle entrapment. Infection pathways are also obvious here, with ethmoid sinusitis extending to the orbit as postseptal cellulitis due to the thin medial orbital wall. Small margins. Use this illustration for teaching coronal skull base anatomy in gross anatomy, ENT and ophthalmology modules, and for labeling plates in atlases covering the nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses, and anterior cranial fossa. It also fits radiology and surgical texts when correlating coronal CT with the cribriform plate, crista galli, lamina papyracea, and nasal septum landmarks. Anatomical accuracy verified by SciePro's Medical Advisory Board.