Fissure

For other uses, see Fissure (disambiguation).

In anatomy, a fissure (Latin fissura, plural fissurae) is a groove, natural division, deep furrow, elongated cleft, or tear in various parts of the body also generally called a sulcus, or in the brain a sulcus.

Types

Brain

• Medial longitudinal fissure or Longitudinal fissure: which divides the cerebrum into the two hemispheres.
• Fissure of Bichat: found below the corpus callosum in the cerebellum of the brain.
• Broca's fissure: found in the third left frontal fold of the brain.
• Burdach's fissure: connects the brain's insula and the inner surface of the operculum.
• Calcarin's fissure: extends from the occipital of the cerebrum to the occipital fissure.
• Callosomarginal fissure: found in the mesial surface of the cerebrum.
• Central sulcus or Rolando's fissure: separates the brain's frontal and parietal lobes.
• Clevenger's fissure: found in the inferior temporal lobe of the brain
• Collateral fissure: found in the inferior surface of the cerebrum.
• Hippocampal sulcus: a sulcus that extends from the brain's corpus callosum to the tip of the temporal lobe.
• Horizontal fissure or Transverse fissure: found between the cerebrum and the cerebellum. Note that a "transverse fissure" can also be found in the liver and lungs.
• Occipitoparietal fissure: found between the occipital and parietal lobes of the brain.
• Fissure of Sylvius: separates the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain from the temporal lobe.
• Wernicke's fissure: separates the brain's temporal and parietal lobes from the occipital lobe.
• Zygal fissure: found in the cerebrum.

Skull

• Auricular fissure: found in the temporal bone
• Pterygomaxillary fissure
• Petrotympanic fissure
• Sphenoidal fissure: separates the wings and the body of the sphenoid bone.
• Superior orbital fissure

Liver

• Longitudinal fissure: found in the lower surface of the liver, also a fissure that separates the right and left hemispheres of the cerebrum.
• Portal fissure: found in the under-surface of the liver.
• Umbilical fissure: found in front of the liver.

Spinal cord

• ventral median fissure

Lung

• oblique fissure of rt & lf lung
• horizontal fissure of right lung

Liver

• fissure for ligamentum teres hepatis
• fissure for ligamentum venosum

Other

• Henle's fissure: the connective tissue between the muscle fibers of the heart.
• Palpebral fissure: separates the upper and lower eyelids.
• Anal Fissure: a break or tear in the skin of the anal canal.
• Fissure of the nipple

Abnormal fissure

Fissure can also refer to an unnatural tract or ulcer, most commonly found in the anus and called an anal fissure.