Dolichocephaly (derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), 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 A lurcher is a Dog crossbreed, crossbred dog resulting from dog reproduction, mating a greyhound or other sighthound with a dog of another Dog type, type such as a herding dog or a terrier. The lurcher is not a "breed," but is a generic descri ...

German Shepherd The German Shepherd, also known in Britain as an Alsatian, is a German Dog breed, breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various Old German herding dogs, traditional German herding dog ...

) have elongated noses. This makes them vulnerable to fungal diseases of the nose such as

aspergillosis Aspergillosis is a fungal infection of usually the lungs, caused by the genus ''Aspergillus'', a common mold that is breathed in frequently from the air, but does not usually affect most people. It generally occurs in people with lung diseases su ...

. 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 Sensenbrenner syndrome (OMIM #218330) is a rare (less than 20 cases reported by 2010) multisystem disease first described by Judith A. Sensenbrenner in 1975. It is inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion, and a number of genes appear to be resp ...

, Crouzon syndrome, Sotos syndrome, CMFTD and

Marfan syndrome Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a multi-systemic genetic disorder that affects the connective tissue. Those with the condition tend to be tall and thin, with dolichostenomelia, long arms, legs, Arachnodactyly, fingers, and toes. They also typically ha ...

. 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. In anthropology, human populations have been characterized as either dolichocephalic (long-headed),

mesocephalic The cephalic index or cranial index is a number obtained by taking the maximum width ( biparietal diameter or BPD, side to side) of the head of an organism, multiplying it by 100 and then dividing it by their maximum length ( occipitofrontal dia ...

(moderate-headed), or

brachycephalic Brachycephaly (derived from the Ancient Greek '' βραχύς'', 'short' and '' κεφαλή'', 'head') is the shape of a skull shorter than average in its species. It is perceived as a cosmetically desirable trait in some domesticated dog and ...

(short-headed). The usefulness of the cephalic index was questioned by

Giuseppe Sergi Giuseppe Sergi (March 20, 1841 – October 17, 1936) was an Italian anthropologist of the early twentieth century, best known for his opposition to Nordicism in his books on the racial identity of Mediterranean peoples. He rejected existing ra ...

, who argued that cranial morphology provided a better means to model racial ancestry.

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Congenital disorders of musculoskeletal system {{musculoskeletal-disease-stub

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