The course of osteons in the compact bone of the human proximal femur with clinical and biomechanical significance

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyze the structure and course of osteons in the compact bone of individual regions of the upper end of the femur and to consider the possible association with the course of typical peritrochanteric fracture lines. The issue of the architecture of this region has been dealt with by a number of authors since the first half of the nineteenth century, but until the present structural analysis it has been examined only by a few authors. We analyzed the structure of bones on specimens prepared by the method of repeated grinding, impregnating and polishing of the bone surface. We grounded and subsequently evaluated the bone in 20 dry specimens of the proximal femur, where the courses of the central vascular canals were described in the region of the femoral neck, the lesser trochanter, the greater trochanter, the intertrochanteric crest and line. The osteons were incorporated into a biomechanical model of the proximal femur and compared with the FEM model and correlation with the distribution of surface stresses was described. Certain areas were identified in the region of the trochanters where the course of osteons coincided with the course of the typical fracture lines of peritrochanteric fractures with typical fragments.