Percutaneous assessment of the relationship between Homologous and Non-homologous bones of Upper and Lower limbs among Ghanaian tertiary students

Abstract

BackgroundNatural disasters and accidents may result in loss of some part of the upper and or lower limbs. In such situations, there is the need to design appropriate best fit prostheses for such victims. There is the need to have sex-and side-specific models that can be applied conveniently to design appropriate prosthesis for maximum benefit to the patient.AimTherefore, this study was designed to determine the relationship between homologous and non-homologous bones of upper and lower limbs among Ghanaians using a percutaneous approach.MethodologyEthical approval for this cross-sectional study was sought from the Committee on Human Research, Publication and Ethics, KNUST and 242 participants were sampled via a purposive sampling technique after seeking their consent.ResultsMales significantly recorded greater percutaneous long bones for both the upper and lower limbs than the female participants. With the exception of radial length among the females, for both sexes bilateral asymmetry was observed in the remaining percutaneous limb dimensions where the upper limb parameters were greater on the left side than the right side, but showed right dominance for the lower limb parameters. Although several useful equations were derived, most of them utilized humeral length in the prediction of lower limb length estimation.ConclusionFindings of the present study are useful for the biological profiling of humans with dismembered body parts involved in various disasters such as automobile accidents. The formulae derived would be useful for the design of appropriate prostheses. This study has also reaffirmed the existence of sexual and bilateral dimorphism in body dimensions.