Bone morphometry

Abstract

Objectives: To compare anatomical measurements with that of radiological measurements.

Background: The radiological measurements are commonly used in clinical practice. It is well known that the anatomical measurements are more accurate than radiological. The comparison of anatomicoradiological measurements is not reported hitherto.

Methods: One human adult cadaveric femur bone was used for the present study. It was measured both anatomically and radiologically.

Results: In digital X- ray measurements, the length from the upper lip of fovea capitis to the most prominent part of greater trochanter was 87.2 mms, from the upper most part of greater trochanter to the isthmus it was 147.9 mms, mediolateral width of medullary cavity at the isthmus was 8.9 mms, the mediolateral width at the distal root of lesser trochanter was 18.5 mms, anteroposterior width of medullary cavity at the isthmus was 11.5 mms, the anteroposterior width at the distal root of lesser trochanter was 16.8 mms. The same measurements were 91.2 mms, 154.6 mms, 11.8 mms, 19.7 mms, 11.9 mms and 18.5 mms when taken anatomically using the digital vernier caliper.

Conclusion: The present study showed that in all the parameters measured the radiological values were slightly lesser than the anatomical values. Considering the variations in the values, the implants can be designed for a particular case in orthopedic surgery. We believe that this study adds an important reference in the scientific literature (Tab. 1, Fig. 2, Ref. 5).