Morphometric evaluation of human femur

 

Dhairyashilrao Y Shinde¹, Anita Gaule^2*

 

 

Abstract              Background: The femoral morphology, throughout ontogeny, seems to be influenced by its functions. The parameters might be useful in providing important data to orthopaedicians, archeologists, forensic legal experts and anatomists. Aim: To evaluate the morphological features of femur i.e. length, various angles, circumferences and diameters at specified points and to compare these findings with earlier studies. Material and Methods: A total of 353 dried, intact human femora were selected for the study. All the femora were classified into Right side and Left side. The femora were not sexed for measurements in the present study. Nine parameters pertaining to proximal end, shaft, distal end and various angles of the femora were measured. Results: On bilateral comparison of the femora, the circumference of the neck, neck- shaft angle and bicondylar angle were found to be significantly different on both the sides. Whereas, the length of femur, circumference of shaft, vertical diameter of the head and neck, transverse diameter of the shaft and the bicondylar width did not show significant difference on comparison of both the sides. Conclusion: The measurements and indices obtained from this study will allow safe instrumentation and fixation. In addition, the distances and curvatures determined by this study will help in the proper alignment of bone fragments.

Key Words: Femur, Femoral Length, Neck circumference, Neck-Shaft angle.