Clinical significance of sella turcica morphologies and dimensions in relation to different skeletal patterns and skeletal maturity assessment

Abstract EN

Background : sella turcica is a saddle-like structure based on the roof of the sphenoid bone and has an important role in orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning.

The aims of the study were to assess sella shape and size in an adolescent Iraqi sample in different skeletal classes and to verify the possibility of clinical application of sella turcica in skeletal maturity estimation.

Materials and Methods : the study sample composed of (140) Iraqi adolescent subjects aged 10-16 years (91 females, 49 males) ; every subject had true lateral cephalometric radiograph.

The sample was subjected to 2 classifications : the 1st included three skeletal classes according to ANB angle, and the 2nd included accelerative and decelerative groups according to maturity indicators of cervical vertebrae seen radiographically.

In each classification, sella size was measured using three linear measurements (S.length, S.depth, and S.

diameter).

Results : most of sella turcica measurements were not different statistically among the skeletal classes, and that specific sella turcica linear measurements cannot be obtained for each specific skeletal class throughout the pubertal period.

Normal sella was the predominant over the other morphological aberrations in both classification systems, while these morphologies occurred more frequently in class II and III.

Sella depth and diameter were significantly higher in the decelerative than accelerative group, while non significant difference was found concerning sella shapes between the two groups.

Conclusions : it was concluded that Sella depth and sella diameter measurements can be utilized clinically for pubertal growth phase determination, while sella morphology cannot be diagnostic for the accelerative and decelerative pubertal growth phases.