ASSESSMENT OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NECK SHAFT ANGLE AND NECK LENGTH WITH INTEREPICONDYLAR DISTANCE IN FEMUR

Background: Femur is the longest and strongest bone of the body. It transmits body weight from hip bone to tibia in standing position. Femoral neck is a constricted part connecting head with shaft at an angle of about 125°known as angle of inclination or neck shaft angle (NSA); this facilitates the movement of hip joint enabling the limb to swing clear of pelvis. Abnormal femoral neck angle (FNA) may be associated with various clinical problems ranging from harmless in toeing gait in childhood to disabling osteoarthritis in adults. The current study attempted to find out if a co-relation exists between those parameters and other clinically measurable variables like inter-epicondylar distance or distance between greater trochanter to lateral epicondyle. This may help to predict the risk of fracture neck femur without any risk of radiation exposure and proper prophylactic measures can be undertaken (Vit-D, calcium) to decrease risk of fracture. Results: Measurements were taken in dry femora mostly in East Indian population. Variables that were measured in 158 dry femora (85 femora from left side and 73 from the right side) are: - a) Neck shaft angle of femur, b) Neck length of femur, c) Neck circumference of femur, d) Inter-epicondylar distance of femur, e) Distance between lateral epicondyle and greater trochanter of femur. No significant difference was found between the right and left sided femoral groups regarding any of the study variables. From the analysis it was revealed that no positive or negative correlation exists between the study variables. Therefore, it is not possible to predict the value of one or more of them from the magnitude of the other variable(s). Conclusions: Our study attempted to find out if it was possible to predict the risk of fracture neck femur by simple clinical procedure without exposing the subjects to radiation hazards associated with a radiological imaging. A screening test and subsequent prophylactic measures could have been suggested to prevent the fracture. However, at the end of the study, no suitable alternative to the radiological assessment was detected.