English

Abstract

BACKGROUND Tibia is the weight bearing bone of the leg. Usually it has a single nutrient foramen located posteriorly near the soleal line and transmits a branch of posterior tibial artery. The nutrient artery is the principal source of supply to a long bone. We carried out this study to find out the number, size, location, position and direction of the diaphyseal nutrient foramen in dried human tibia in Goan population. METHODS The study was carried out on 66 unpaired dry human tibiae of unknown age, gender and without deformity in the Department of Anatomy, Goa Medical College, using sliding and digital Vernier callipers, 20- and 24-gauge needles. Hughes formula was used to compute foraminal index. The data was statistically analysed with SPSS software version 23. RESULTS Most of the tibia in our study had a single nutrient foramen. Majority of the nutrient foramina were medium sized and directed downwards in our study. In 81.42 % tibiae, the nutrient foramina were present in the upper 1 / 3 rd of the shaft and in 18.57 % in the middle 1 / 3 rd of the shaft of the bone. Almost all nutrient foramina in the upper 1 / 3 rd of posterior surface were situated lateral to the soleal line. We computed the mean foraminal index as 30.25 % with standard deviation of 6.14. CONCLUSIONS A proper knowledge of morphometry and topography of the nutrient foramen is of utmost importance to orthopaedic surgeons as the nutrient artery may get damaged if fracture line passes through the nutrient canal. Also, it will help the surgeon to conserve vascular supply while performing bone grafting and fracture reduction. KEYWORDS Nutrient Foramen, Morphometry, Foraminal Index, Soleal Line