Dolichocephaly

Dolichocephaly
Dolichocephaly (scaphocephaly) in a 10-year-old
Dolichocephalic head shape of Lurcher-type dogs
Specialty	Medical genetics

Dolichocephaly (derived from the Ancient Greek δολιχός 'long' and κεφαλή '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 the Lurcher or German Shepherd) have elongated muzzles. This makes them vulnerable to fungal diseases of the nose such as aspergillosis.¹ In humans the anterior–posterior diameter (length) of dolichocephaly head is more than the transverse diameter (width).

Dolichocephaly can sometimes be a symptom of Sensenbrenner syndrome, Crouzon syndrome, Sotos syndrome,² CMFTD³ and Marfan syndrome. However, it also occurs non-pathologically as a result of normal variation between human populations. The standards for denoting dolichocephaly are derived from European 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), or brachycephalic (short-headed). The usefulness of the cephalic index was questioned by Giuseppe Sergi, who argued that cranial morphology provided a better means to model racial ancestry.⁵