The sella turcica (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for 'Turkish saddle') is a

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

-shaped depression in the body of the

sphenoid bone The sphenoid bone is an unpaired bone of the neurocranium. It is situated in the middle of the skull towards the front, in front of the basilar part of occipital bone, basilar part of the occipital bone. The sphenoid bone is one of the seven bones ...

of the

human skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

and of the

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

s of other

hominids The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); ''Gorilla'' (the east ...

including

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

s and

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

s. It serves as a cephalometric landmark. The

pituitary gland In vertebrate anatomy, the pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland, about the size of a chickpea and weighing, on average, in humans. It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain. The ...

or hypophysis is located within the most inferior aspect of the sella turcica, the hypophyseal fossa.

Structure

The sella turcica is located in the sphenoid bone behind the

chiasmatic groove The superior surface of the body of the sphenoid bone is bounded behind by a ridge, which forms the anterior border of a narrow, transverse groove, the chiasmatic groove (optic groove, prechiasmatic sulcus), above and behind which lies the optic c ...

and the

tuberculum sellae The tuberculum sellae (or the tubercle of the sella turcica) is a part of the sphenoid bone The sphenoid bone is an unpaired bone of the neurocranium. It is situated in the middle of the skull towards the front, in front of the basilar part of ...

. It belongs to the

middle cranial fossa The middle cranial fossa, deeper than the anterior cranial fossa, is narrow medially and widens laterally to the sides of the skull. It is separated from the posterior fossa by the clivus and the petrous crest. It is bounded in front by the pos ...

. The sella turcica's most inferior portion is known as the hypophyseal fossa (the "seat of the saddle"), and contains the

(hypophysis). In front of the hypophyseal fossa is the

. Completing the formation of the saddle posteriorly is the

dorsum sellae The dorsum sellae is part of the sphenoid bone in the skull. Together with the basilar part of the occipital bone it forms the clivus. In the sphenoid bone, the anterior boundary of the sella turcica is completed by two small eminences, one on e ...

, which is continuous with the clivus, inferoposteriorly. The dorsum sellae is terminated laterally by the

posterior clinoid processes In the sphenoid bone, the anterior boundary of the sella turcica is completed by two small eminences, one on either side, called the anterior clinoid processes, while the posterior boundary is formed by a square-shaped plate of bone, the dorsum sel ...

Development

It is widely believed that the development of the

diaphragma sellae The diaphragma sellae or sellar diaphragm is a flat piece of dura mater with a circular hole allowing the vertical passage of the pituitary stalk. It retains the pituitary gland beneath it in the fossa hypophyseos as it almost completely roofs th ...

is a factor which determines the morphology of the sella turcica and its contents.

Function

The sella turcica forms a bony seat for the

Clinical significance

Empty sella syndrome Empty sella syndrome is the condition when the pituitary gland shrinks or becomes flattened, filling the sella turcica with cerebrospinal fluid instead of the normal pituitary. It can be discovered as part of the diagnostic workup of pituitary di ...

is the condition of a shrunken or flattened pituitary gland. Since the sella turcica forms a bony caudal border for the pituitary gland, a

pituitary tumor Pituitary adenomas are tumors that occur in the pituitary gland. Most pituitary tumors are benign, approximately 35% are invasive and just 0.1% to 0.2% are carcinomas.rostral Rostral may refer to: Anatomy * Rostral (anatomical term), situated toward the oral or nasal region * Rostral bone, in ceratopsian dinosaurs * Rostral organ, of certain fish * Rostral scale, in snakes and scaled reptiles Other uses * Rostral colu ...

direction into the suprasellar region. This can result in compression of the

optic chiasm In neuroanatomy, the optic chiasm, or optic chiasma (; , ), is the part of the brain where the optic nerves cross. It is located at the bottom of the brain immediately inferior to the hypothalamus. The optic chiasm is found in all vertebrate ...

, which lies on top of the pituitary, enveloping the

pituitary stalk The pituitary stalk (also known as the infundibular stalk, Fenderson's funnel, or simply the infundibulum) is the connection between the hypothalamus and the posterior pituitary. The floor of the third ventricle is prolonged downward as a funnel- ...

. Compression of the optic chiasm can lead to

bitemporal hemianopsia Bitemporal hemianopsia, is the medical description of a type of partial blindness where vision is missing in the outer half of both the right and left visual field. It is usually associated with lesions of the optic chiasm, the area where the opt ...

, and, when there is no relevant trauma, this clinical finding is

pathognomonic Pathognomonic (rare synonym ''pathognomic'') is a term, often used in medicine, that means "characteristic for a particular disease". A pathognomonic sign is a particular sign whose presence means that a particular disease is present beyond any doub ...

for a pituitary tumor. Some pituitary adenomas can extend inferiorly, growing downward and invading the sphenoid bone and cavernous sinus. Large adenomas can cause remodeling of the underlying sphenoid bone altering the shape of the sella turcica. Sella turcica is also usually used as a reference point with

nasion The nasion () is the most anterior point of the frontonasal suture that joins the nasal part of the frontal bone and the nasal bones. It marks the midpoint at the intersection of the frontonasal suture with the internasal suture joining the nasa ...

to establish the base of the skull in

cephalometric analysis Cephalometric analysis is the clinical application of cephalometry. It is analysis of the dental and skeletal relationships of a human skull. It is frequently used by dentists, orthodontists, and oral and maxillofacial surgeons as a treatmen ...

. This is commonly done prior to

orthodontic Orthodontics is a dentistry specialty that addresses the diagnosis, prevention, management, and correction of mal-positioned teeth and jaws, and misaligned bite patterns. It may also address the modification of facial growth, known as dentofacial ...

treatment.

Proffit, William R. William Robert Proffit (April 19, 1936 – September 30, 2018) was an American orthodontist. He was made a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1966. Proffit led the department of orthodontics at the University of N ...

Contemporary Orthodontics, 4th Edition. C.V. Mosby, 122006. 6.5.2.1). vbk:978-0-323-04046-4#outline(6.5.2.1)

Etymology

''Sella turcica'' is from the

words ''sella'', meaning seat, and ''turcica'', meaning Turkish.

Additional images

File:Sella turcica - animation03.gif,

Human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

skull seen from side (

parietal bone The parietal bones () are two bones in the Human skull, skull which, when joined at a fibrous joint, form the sides and roof of the Human skull, cranium. In humans, each bone is roughly quadrilateral in form, and has two surfaces, four borders, an ...

s and

temporal bone The temporal bones are situated at the sides and base of the skull, and lateral to the temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex. The temporal bones are overlaid by the sides of the head known as the temples, and house the structures of the ears. Th ...

s have been removed). Sella turcica shown in red. File:Hypophysial fossa01.png, Hypophysial fossa shown in red. File:Sella turcica - animation02.gif,

Sphenoid bone The sphenoid bone is an unpaired bone of the neurocranium. It is situated in the middle of the skull towards the front, in front of the basilar part of occipital bone, basilar part of the occipital bone. The sphenoid bone is one of the seven bones ...

seen from above. Sella turcica shown in red. File:Base of skull 8.jpg, Base of skull - Sella turcica, tuberculum sellae and hypophyseal fossa

References

External links

Image at Indiana.edu
{{Authority control Bones of the head and neck