Sphenoid bone
Os sphenoidale
SkeletalSkeletonHead
- What it is
- Butterfly-shaped bone at the centre of the skull base: a hollow body with the sella turcica (seat of the pituitary), greater and lesser wings, and pterygoid plates hanging below.
- Function
- Keystone of the cranial base, joining with every other cranial bone; transmits the optic nerves and many other nerves and vessels.
- Size
- ≈ 7 cm across the greater wings
- Clinical note
- The pituitary gland is reached surgically through the sphenoid sinus (transsphenoidal surgery).