Abstract
PurposeThere has been little information in the medical literature regarding the growing ulna in the human fetus, though such knowledge appears to be potentially useful in diagnosing skeletal dysplasias, characterized by a disrupted or completely halted growth of the fetus. Therefore, longitudinal measurements of long bones are extremely conducive in assessing both pregnancy and fetal anatomy.Materials and methodsUsing methods of CT, digital-image analysis and statistics, the size of the ulna’s shaft primary ossification center in 48 (26 males and 22 females) spontaneously aborted human fetuses aged 17–30 weeks was studied.ResultsWith no sex differences, the best fit growth dynamics for the ulna’s shaft primary ossification center was modeled by the following functions: y = − 8.476 + 1.561 × age ± 0.019 for its length, y = − 2.961 + 0.278 × age ± 0.016 for its proximal transverse diameter, y = – 0.587 + 0.107 × age ± 0.027 for its middle transverse diameter, y = − 2.865 + 0.226 × age ± 0.295 for its distal transverse diameter, y = − 50.758 + 0.251 × (age)2 ± 0.016 for its projection surface area, and y = − 821.707 + 52.578 × age ± 0.018 ± 102.944 for its volume.ConclusionsThe morphometric characteristics of the ulna’s shaft primary ossification center show neither sex nor bilateral differences. The ulna’s shaft primary ossification center grows linearly with respect to its length, transverse dimensions and volume, and follows a quadratic function with respect to its projection surface area. The obtained morphometric data of the ulna’s shaft primary ossification center is considered normative for respective prenatal weeks and may be of relevance in both the estimation of fetal ages and the diagnostic process of congenital defects.
Highlights
There has been scarce information in the medical literature regarding the growing ulna in human fetuses, though such knowledge appears to be potentially useful in diagnosing skeletal dysplasias, characterized by a Marcin Wiśniewski and Mariusz Baumgart made equal contributions to this article
Ossification of the shafts of long bones, i.e., humerus, ulna and radius starts between weeks 7 and 12 of fetal life, while secondary ossification centers in epiphyses appear between years 1 and 3
The authors observed that between weeks 13 and 28, all measured long bones grew in a commensurate manner to fetal age, and beyond week 28 the growth followed a quadratic function of fetal age
Summary
There has been scarce information in the medical literature regarding the growing ulna in human fetuses, though such knowledge appears to be potentially useful in diagnosing skeletal dysplasias, characterized by a Marcin Wiśniewski and Mariusz Baumgart made equal contributions to this article. Ultrasound measurements of ossified shafts of long bones are feasible from week 12 of fetal life [14], while ossification centers can be observed as early as from week 9 of fetal life [16]
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