Clinical anatomic and histological observation of the round ligament of femoral head in the operation of senile femoral neck fracture

Abstract

Objective To investigate the trajectory , morphology, attachment point anatomy and histological characteristics of femoral round ligaments. Methods A prospective study was conducted on the 25 patients with femoral neck fractures who underwent arthroplasty at the Department of Orthopaedics, Wuhan General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army from August 2017 to June 2018, aged 63-88 years, mean 78 years, 15 males and 10 females. Firstly, the round ligament was close to the concave attachment point of the femoral head. After the femoral head was removed, the fixation point of the round ligament on the acetabulum and the characteristic of its movement was observed.Then the round ligaments were slowly excised by an electric knife at the attachment point of acetabular fossa.The length of the round ligament of the femoral head was measured and the tissue was observed Results All 25 cases of femoral head round ligament originated from the acetabular transverse ligament, which was divided into anterior and posterior bundles to the femoral head concave. The anterior bundle was marked by depression and then divided into two bundles. The depression was temporarily named Cai's . The posterior bundle was attached to the acetabular transverse ligament around the acetabular horseshoe fossa and covered the acetabular horseshoe fossa with sucker-like covering the acetabular horseshoe fossa The length of the round ligament of the femoral head was (24.8±3.8) mm. The round ligament of femoral head consists of collagen, adipose tissue, synovial tissue and blood vessels. Conclusions As the only connection between the square area of the acetabulum and the femoral head, the round ligament of the femoral head can well resist traction and has strong biomechanical functions. Key words: Ligaments; Round ligaments of the femoral head; Anatomy; Histology