Morphological Analyisis of the Fabella in Brazilians

Abstract

Among the present`s sesamoids in the human body, the fabella can be found in the posterior part of the knee in low incidence. This report is quite controverted in the classic anatomical literature as well as its constitution. Its fixation is on the tendon of the gastrocnemius lateralis, close to its origin, in the posterior part of condilus femuralis lateralis. However, when its occurs, generally induces in the knee the absence of arcuate ligament with the presence of fabellofibular ligament. The prevalence is larger in male individuals. Few studies discuss the histology of the fabella. Some authors suggest that the fabella basically formed by bone tissue and others describe it as a fibrocartilaginous. The aim of this study is to analyze the incidence of the fabella, its histological structure and its association with presence or absence of fabellofibular ligaments through macro and microscopic study. Sixty-two Brazilian´s knees were dissected and the fabella was found in two diferent specimens. The tissue had been removed and fixed in 4% formaldehyde for microscopic evaluation. The fabella is a sesamoid bone that appears on knee in a small frequency in Brazilians. Its presence provokes absence of the arcuate ligament and the presence of the fabellofibular ligament. The histological study demonstrated bone tissues on its constitution without osteoclasts.

Prevalence and distribution of the fabella: a radiographic study in Turkish subjects

“…On plain radiographs, it may be confused with intra-articu-lar loose bodies or osteophytes in osteoarthritic knees, intra-meniscal calcifications and cyamella (another sesamoid bone found within the popliteal tendon) [22,25,30]. Histological and anatomical features of clinical conditions associated with fabella to be addressed in previous studies [5,34,41,42]. This study is the largest radiographic studies in the literature.…”

Fabella prevalence rate increases over 150 years, and rates of other sesamoid bones remain constant: a systematic review

“…A Pearson's correlation revealed a statistically significant relationship between the two variables ( y = 0.82350 * x −0.60879; t ‐value = 11.149, P = 2.96e‐16), with an intercept that is not statistically different from zero ( t ‐value = −1.541, P = 0.129). The data for Brazil (Silva et al., ) represent an outlier for this dataset.…”

“…Fabella prevalence in humans ranges from 3 to 87% (Silva et al. ; Zeng et al. ), making it a normal variant in human anatomy.…”

Presencia, Localización y Biometría de la Fabela en Individuos Chilenos: Estudio Radiológico

“…Por otra parte, una escasa presencia de este hueso fue informada por Silva et al (2010) en un grupo de 62 cadáveres de individuos Brasileños, en los cuales fue localizado sólo en 2 rodillas (3,1 %) de su muestra, donde se utilizó la técnica de disección. Debido al pequeño tamaño de este hueso podría ser más adecuado utilizar técnicas de imagen para su ubicación.…”