A study of nutrient foramina of the dry adult human femur bones

Abstract

The Femur bone is a highly vascular structure with unique features in its blood supply via numerous foramina located over its different segments, being named as vascular foramina . Among vascular foramina, nutrient foramen is an important one which gives wa y to the nutrient artery. Knowledge of vascular anatomy is helpful in early identification of vascular interruptions leading to osteonecrosis. The present study was undertaken on 100 dry adult human Femur bones of both sides, irrespective of sex. The bones were obtained from the Department of Anatomy, Shamanur Shivashankarappa Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Davangere, Karnataka, India. In the present study, among foramina of 100 dry adult human Femora, 62 Femora had single nutrient foramen, 37 had two nutrient foramina and 1 had three nutrient foramina. The medial lip of linea aspera of Femur depicted the presence of nutrient foramina in majority of bones suggesting the entry zone for nourishment of shaft by perforating arteries. Size of nutrient foramina were ranging from size ≥ 0.55 mm to size ≥ 1.27 mm. Direction of nutrient foramina of all the Femora were directed upwards. This study may help orthopaedic surgeons in planning the surgical treatment of fracture of Femur with a possible reduction in post-operative complications. Combined periosteal and medullary blood supply to the bone cortex helps to explain the success of intramedullary reaming of long bone fractures particularly in the weight bearing Femur. Keywords: Femur, Nutrient foramina, Ischaemic necrosis, Perforating arteries, Nutrient artery. 1.IntroductionThe Femur is the long bone of the thigh. Femur is the bone which is susceptible to the functional hormonal disturbances, aging process and physical traumas which account for its usual fractures and dislocations [1]. The arteries supplying this long bone pervade into it via numerous foramina located over its different segments, being named as vascular foramina. Among these vascular foramina, nutrient foramen is an important one which gives way to the nutrient artery. Knowledge of vascular anatomy is helpful in early identification of vascular interruptions leading to osteonecrosis [2]. Materials and MethodsA study of nutrient foramina morphology was conducted on total of 100 dry adult human Femur bones of either sex from the collection in the Department of Anatomy, Shamanur Shivashankarappa Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Davangere, Karnataka, India. Deformed, damaged bones, bones with callous formation and unossified bones were excluded from the study.The materials used to calculate the parameters in this study are as follows: 1) Marker pens 2) 18, 20, 22, 24 gauge hypodermic needles.The dry adult human Femur bones were numbered using the marker pen from 1 to 100 numbers in order.To locate the nutrient foramina, the Femur bone was divided into different segments: