Surgical anatomy of the cribriform plate and adjacent areas.

Continuous improvement of surgical techniques is needed in skull base surgery in order to decrease intraoperative complications during various operations. However, the basis of minimizing damage in the operative field is a comprehensive knowledge of microsurgical anatomy. This article provides a detailed description of the cribriform plate and adjacent areas, based on investigations of over one thousand dried skulls and 225 computerized tomography scans of the anterior skull base. The main anatomic structures and the different types of the cribriform plate are demonstrated on color photographs and identified on CT scans as well. The variations important in anterior skull base approaches are also discussed and compared with the data found in the literature. The surface anatomy and development of the cribriform plate is described.