Study on the Nutrient Foramen of Long Bones of Upper Limb

What is it about?

Study on the Nutrient Foramen of Long Bones of Upper Limb

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Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The success of any transplant lies in the surgeons ability to preserve its vascular supply and its rapid reconstruction, especially in free vascularized bone grafts, which preserve viability of osteocytes, act as a space filler and introduce a new vascular bed for the reconstruction of defects following trauma, tumour resection, congenital pseudoarthrosis and any cases of difficult non-union bones. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the present study is to: 1. To determine the number and position of the nutrient foramina in the upper and lower limb long bones. 2. To determine the location and direction of nutrient canal. 3. To determine whether the nutrient foramina obey the general rule that is directed away from the growing end of long bone. Materials and Methods: The present study is carried out on 150 human cleaned and dried bones of the Upper limb. The samples were taken from Narayana Medical College, Chinthareddypalem, Nellore and Sri Venkata Padmavathi College (SVIMS), Tirupathi of Andhra Pradesh. The long bones included for the study was as follows: Humeri – 50, Radii – 50, Ulnae – 50. All the bones that were taken for the study were normal and had no pathological changes were present. The age and the sex of the bone were unknown. In all these bones after determining the side of bone, the “Nutrient Foramen” were studied in regards with: 1. The number of foramina on the shaft of the bone; 2. Surface on which it was located; 3. Direction from growing end; 4. Location in relation with length of the shaft. Observations and Results: Total 150 long bones of upper limb of right and left side of unknown age and sex were taken for the study. The parameters studied were depending on the number of nutrient foramina, direction of foramina and their distribution at various levels. The results and observations of the study are presented as tables. Conclusions: Importance of nutrient foramen is relevant to fracture treatment. Combined periosteal and medullary blood supply to the bone cortex helps to explain the success of nailing of long bones fractures particularly in the weight bearing like femur and tibia uses of vascularized fibula bone in bony defects due to trauma. Currently, the detailed study of blood supply to long bone is a determining factor for the success of newer techniques and resection in orthopedics.

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