What can the anterior cranial fossa fracture pattern tell us?
Reviewed by Stuart Clark

This assessment involves 81 patients treated between two regional major trauma centres in the UK. Fifty sustained a predominantly anterior directed force and 31 a lateral impact. They found that anterior impacts reduce the incidence of fracture propagated beyond the anterior cranial fossa allowing it to act like a ‘crumple zone’. The lack of such a zone of lateral forces resulted in fracture propagation and transmission throughout the skull base, particularly into the middle of the posterior cranial fossa. 

Applied anatomy anterior of the cranial fossa: what can fracture patters tell us? 
Stephens JR, Holmes S, Evans BT.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY
2016;45(3):275-8.