Morphological variations and morphometry details of the foramen ovale in the Saudi population: a retrospective radiological study

The foramen ovale is one of the essential foramina in the middle cranial fossa, more precisely, in the superior surface of the greater wing of the sphenoid bone. It has essential surgical and diagnostic significance since it serves as a surgical landmark, and crucial neurovascular vessels such as the mandibular nerve and accessory meningeal artery pass through it. Therefore, understanding the morphological and morphometric variations of the foramen ovale is essential for accurately identifying, diagnosing, and managing related pathologies. The study aimed to evaluate the morphological variations and morphometric details of the foramen ovale in the Saudi population. A radiological study was conducted to observe the measurements and the shapes of the foramen ovale in the skull with its anatomical variants. Retrospective data was collected from the Department of Radiology, King Fahad University Hospital, Saudi Arabia. The sample consisted of 100 human skulls from computed tomography scans, including 50 males and 50 females. The values for the mean length, width, and distance from the midline on the right side were 6.462 mm ± 1.681 mm, 4.897 ± 1.0631 mm, and 2.4565 ± 0.51275 mm, and 6.451 ± 1.6691 mm, 4.812 ± 1.0848 mm and 2.4290 ± 0.60039 mm for the left side, respectively. The foramen shape was oval in the majority (47%), followed by round shape (31%) with no bony outgrowths such as spur in the studied foramina. Furthermore, the morphometric variation between males and females was statistically insignificant (p-value>0.05). The observed variation of foramen ovale in this study has significant anatomical and clinical applications for various diagnostic and surgical procedures.