Evaluation of Nutrient Foramen in Adult Dry Human Femur

BACKGROUND Nutrient foramen is a large opening that transfers the arteries that supply the bone to the bone cavity. During surgical procedures, it is very important to have precise and complete information about the location of the foramina to determine whether the fracture line passes close to the nutrient foramina. The purpose of this study was to determine the number and position of the femoral nutrient foramina together with morphometric measurements. METHODS A total of 93 dry adult femurs with unknown sexes were examined in this study. The direction, location and the total number of nutrient foramina of the femur were investigated by using an anthropometer (Lafayette instrument, Indiana). Also, foraminal index was calculated. RESULTS The analysis revealed that 28 (53.8 %) of the femurs with a single nutrient foramen were on the right side and 22 (53.7 %) were on the left side, respectively. Femurs with double nutrient foramina were 23 (44.2 %) and 18 (43.9 %) on right and left sides, respectively. Femurs with triple nutrient foramina were 1(1.9 %) and 1 (2.4 %) on right and left sides, respectively. The foraminal index of femurs was found as (41, 58 %) and (42, 23 %) on the right and left sides, respectively. The nutrient foramen was mostly 84 (90.3 %) located at the middle third of the femur. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study provide information and details about nutrient foramen which have clinical importance, especially in surgical procedures like bone grafting and microsurgical vascularized bone transplantation. KEY WORDS Femur, Foraminal Index, Nutrient Artery, Nutrient Foramina

Fetal Femur Length and Abdominal Circumference Ratio in Bangladesh

Objective: The ratio of fetal femur length and abdominal circumference is one of the important ratios. But we do not have any study on it in our country so far. Therefore a study was conducted to prepare a table based on Bangladeshi population. Method: Well dated pregnancies were included in a cross-sectional prospective study. By fitting Polynomial regression model a table and a graph were prepared. Nomograms of Caucasian population which were established before, were compared with this study. Results: A chart of the raw data of 1223 subjects with superimposed fitted percentiles was produced. The quadratic model showed a good fit to the data. 3rd, 10th, 50th, 90th and 97th percentiles, means and two standard deviations of the data were derived. Conclusion: These table and charts can be useful for accurate assessment of fetal femur length/abdominal circumference ratio to detect the type of fetal growth abnormality, symmetrical or asymmetrical. This study shows that there is similarity of this ratio with the western ratio unlike the individual fetal parameters. Key words: Femur length/abdominal circumference ratio; Bangladesh. Bangladesh J Obstet Gynaecol, 2009; Vol. 24(2) : 52-55 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjog.v24i2.8528