| Dolichocephaly | |
|---|---|
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| Dolichocephaly (scaphocephaly) in a 10-year-old | |
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| Dolichocephalic head shape of Lurcher-type dogs | |
| Specialty | Medical genetics  |
Dolichocephaly (derived from theAncient Greekδολιχός 'long' andκεφαλή 'head') is a term used to describe a head that is longer than average relative to its width. In humans,scaphocephaly is a form of dolichocephaly.
Dolichocephalic dogs (such as theLurcher orGerman Shepherd) have elongated noses. This makes them vulnerable to fungal diseases of the nose such asaspergillosis.[1] In humans the anterior–posterior diameter (length) of dolichocephaly head is more than the transverse diameter (width).[citation needed]
Dolichocephaly can sometimes be a symptom ofSensenbrenner syndrome,Crouzon syndrome,Sotos syndrome,[2]CMFTD[3] andMarfan syndrome. However, it also occurs non-pathologically as a result of normal variation between human populations. The standards for denoting dolichocephaly are derived from Caucasian anatomy norms, and thus describing dolichocephaly as a medical condition may not reflect the diversity in different human populations.[4]
In anthropology, human populations have been characterized as either dolichocephalic (long-headed),mesocephalic (moderate-headed), orbrachycephalic (short-headed). The usefulness of the cephalic index was questioned byGiuseppe Sergi, who argued that cranial morphology provided a better means to model racial ancestry.[5]
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