Original Research Article
Year: 2018 | Month: April | Volume: 3 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 34-42
A Comprehensive Study of Nutrient Foramina in Human Lower Limb Long Bones of Indian Population in Rajasthan State
Puneet Joshi1, Sakshi Mathur2
1,2Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Anatomy, S.M.S. Medical College, Jaipur
Corresponding Author: Puneet Joshi
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Nutrient foramen is a natural opening into the shaft of a bone, allowing for passage of blood vessels into the medullary cavity. This supply is essential during the growing period, during the early phases of ossification, and in procedures such as bone grafts, tumor resections, traumas, congenital pseudoarthrosis, and in transplant techniques in orthopedics.
This study aims to determine the number, location and direction of nutrient foramina in human lower limb long bones of Indian population in Rajasthan state.
Material and Method: The present study was conducted on 150 lower limb long bones (50femorii, 50 tibiae and 50 fibulae).
Results: The majority of the bones studied had a single nutrient foramen, which may represent a single source of blood supply. In the results, 68% of the femurs had a single foramen, 16% had double foramina and 94% of the tibiae had a single foramen and 6% had no foramen. For the fibulae, 88% had single nutrient foramen and 12% had no nutrient foramen. The mean foraminal index for the lower limb bones was 45.58% for the femur, 31.74% for the tibia, 45.51% for the fibula.
Conclusion: This study recorded data related to the population of Rajasthan state, providing ethnic data to be used for comparison and that may help in surgical procedures and in the interpretation of radiological images. Information and details about these foramina is of clinical importance, especially in surgical procedures like bone grafting and microsurgical vascularized bone transplantation.
Key words: Nutrient foramen (NF), long bones, foraminal index (FI) Total length (TL).