Background: Nutrient foramen is an opening in the middle of shaft of humerus which gives passage to blood vessels of medullary cavity of a bone for its nourishment and growth. The knowledge of location of nutrient foramen is important in surgical procedures like bone grafting and recently in microsurgical vascularized bone transplantation.
Objective: To study the number, size, direction and location of foramina with respect to the surfaces and zones.
Materials and methods: Present study was done on 100 dried, adult, normal humerus bones (50 – right, 50 – left) obtained from the Department of Anatomy, Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool.
Results: It was observed that 82% of humeri had a single nutrient foramen and 18% had double foramina and in no bone the nutrient foramen was absent. It was also observed that the size of foramen was ≥ 0.55 to < 0.71 mm in 96.6% and ≥ 0.71 to < 1.1 mm in 3.39%. Majority (83.05%) of nutrient foramina were present on anteromedial surface, 11.86% on anterolateral surface and 5.08% on posterior surface.
Conclusion: Knowledge of number, size, direction and location of nutrient foramina in humerus would be useful in preventing intraoperative injury of nutrient artery during orthopaedic, plastic and reconstructive surgeries.
Impact Factor
2022: 6.012
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