Fourier analysis of aldolescent growth of the cranial vault: a longitudinal study.

Abstract

Fourier analysis, in contrast with the conventional metrical approach, is particularly well-suited for studies of longitudinal growth since the method permits the accurate measurement of irregular morphological shapes. A longitudinal analysis of lateral cephalometric radiographs (15 males and 15 females) revealed the presence of an adolescent growth spurt in the cranial bones. The individual growth curves were aligned on the age interval where the maximum percentage change in growth occured. The presence of the pubertal spurt in the cranial bones suggests that the assumption of a lack of neural tissue involvement in the adolescent growth spurt is questionable. The presence of a growth spurt in many of the dento-facial dimensions as well as the cranial base is now well-documented. However, the problem of whether the adolescent growth spurt also occurs in the cranial vault bones and by implication in the brain, has remained a vexing question. Ever since the publication of Scammon's curves of differential tissue growth (1930) it has been widely assumed that the brain does not partake in the pubertal spurt. Although there have been various studies that have shown that the adolescent spurt is present in the bones of the head (Goldstein, 1936, 1939; Tirk, 1948; Nanda, 1955; Dokladal, 1959; Eichorn and Bailey, 1962; Lewis and Roche, 1972, 1974; among others), these studies, often cross-sectional in nature, have not been able to implicate the neural tissue directly. This has led to the implicit acceptance of compartmentalization in the growth process; namely, the cranial bones exhibit the adolescent spurt but the brain for some unknown reason does