Morphology of Nutrient Foramina in Human Metatarsals and Their Clinical Importance

The anatomical landmark of the nutrient foramen is essential in foot reconstruction procedures which involve the utilization of the metatarsal bones. The objectives were to study the morphology of the nutrient foramina in metatarsals and to figure out their foramina index. The present study included 271 unpaired, human metatarsals. The age and sex of the metatarsals were unknown. Nutrient foramina of each bone were grossly examined with respect to their topography and number. The indexing of the foramina was performed with the formula of Hughes. The morphometry of the present study was performed with the application of digital Vernier caliper. It was observed that 79.3% of metatarsals had single nutrient foramen, 9.2% had double foramina, 1.1% exhibited three foramina and in 10.4% of metatarsals, there was no foramen. The mean index of the foramina of 1st metatarsal, 2nd metatarsal, 3rd metatarsal, 4th metatarsal and 5th metatarsal were 65.3, 43.6, 44.4, 45.3 and 47.5, respectively. It was observed that most of the metatarsals had single nutrient foramen. The locations of the nutrient foramen varied from 1st to 5th metatarsals. In the 1st metatarsal and 2nd metatarsals, the foramina were observed at their lateral side and in the rest; they were commonly observed at the medial surface. The morphological distribution of nutrient foramina is important for surgeries involving utilization of metatarsal bones in the foot reconstruction. The morphological data is also beneficial for plastic surgery in case of bone graft microvascular operations.