Asterion

Last edit by Alaric Steinmetz on

The asterion is an important superficial anatomical landmark in neurosurgery.

Anatomy

The asterion is defined as the crossing of the lambdoid suture with the parietomastoid suture and the occipitomastoid suture[^1]. In close proximity to the asterion is the transition between the transverse sinus and sigmoid sinus and therefore the asterion serves as an important anatomical landmark for orientation when planning a craniotomy.

In a study on 100 skull halves, the asterion was distributed in relation to the transition of the transverse sinus to the sigmoid sinus (knee of the sinus) as follows[^1]:

Anatomical Relation

Frequency (%)

Asterion at knee of the sinus

87 %

Asterion superior to the knee of the sinus

11 %

Asterion inferior to the knee of the sinus

2 %

Illustration

Asterion on the skull
Asterion (red marking) on the skull.
Asterion
The red marking represents the convergence of the sutures to form the asterion. The skull comes from an anthropological collection of Charles University from the Department of Biology and Environmental Studies and was published under the CC0 license on Wikimedia.