Morphometric study of nutrient foramina in Human femur bone

Arvind Deswal; Dr. SK Srivastava; Dr. Amit Saxena; Anju Bala

Volume : VI, Issue : VII, July - 2017

Morphometric study of nutrient foramina in Human femur bone

Arvind Deswal, Dr. Sk Srivastava, Dr. Amit Saxena, Anju Bala

Abstract :

Introduction: Nutrient foramen is a natural opening into the shaft of a bone, allowing for passage of blood vessels into the medullary cavity. The knowledge about the morphology and topography of the nutrient foramen is essential in certain surgical procedures like fracture treatment and microvascular bone grafting.

Aim: The present study analysed the number, position, location and direction of nutrient foramina in 112 adult dry femur bones.

Methods: This study conducted on 112 (59 right and 53 left) dry adult fully ossified femur bones. All the important parameters were studied using osteometric board, vernier calipers and other precision measuring instruments.

Results: Femora had single nutrient foramen in 48.34% of the cases, 22.51% femurs had double nutrient foramen and 3.31% of femurs had triple nutrient foramen. The location of the nutrient foramina is predominant on middle on third of diaphysis (type 2). 55 (35.25%) of femora had nutrient foramina on medial lip of linea aspera, 22.43% on middle area of linea aspera, 34 (21.79%) on upper posterior surface, 13 (8.33%) on medial surface and 5 (3.20%) on lateral surface and 14 (8.97%) on lateral lip of linea aspera.

Conclusion: The information and details about these foramina is of clinical importance, especially in surgical procedures like bone grafting and microsurgical vascularized bone transplantation. It is also useful in calculating the length of a long bone from a given fragment which is important for medicolegal and anthropological work.