2D vs 3D imaging techniques to identify the cribriform plate profile

Ali Al-Rubaie

Brain Trauma Lab and Discipline Lead for the Neurosciences Major, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia

Objectives: Within the anterior cerebral fossa, the use of 3D imaging techniques as a tool would have many advantages in measuring macro- and micro-structures in this region this would also provide a deeper understating of the cribriform plate morphology and variations. This project aims to evaluate the Cribriform plate and crista galli profile.
Methods: 40 dissected donors were used to study the correlations and variations among the surface area, olfactory foramina and the length of the crista galli.
Results: the result shows significantly larger measurements using 3D imaging techniques in comparison with 2D imaging. Furthermore, these 3D data present a positive correlation between cribriform plates and indicate olfactory foramina numbers.
Conclusion: These findings would provide substantial benefits to the measurement capabilities of researchers when measuring fine details on structures such as the cribriform plate, which have generally been measured using 2D imaging which will allow for building accurate profiles on the cribriform plate morphology. This approach could assist with the pre-operative assessments and post-operative complications.

Keywords: 2D imaging; 3D imaging; cribriform plate; crista galli

Ethical statement: Human cadavers: 2023 – 25246-44697 – 5 (University of Melbourne). Human cadavers: 20236045 – 15619 (Swinburne University of Technology)