Morphometric evaluation of the foramen magnum for sex determination: A study from Saudi Arabia.

The present study provides a database of various morphometric dimensions of the foramen magnum region in the Saudi population. The objective of this study was to evaluate various measurements of the foramen magnum region for sex determination in the Saudi population by using computed tomography (CT) images. The various radiological measurements of the foramen magnum region were measured in a total of 200 adult subjects of Saudi origin including 100 males and 100 females. Sexual dimorphism was observed in five parameters related to the foramen magnum, namely length of the right occipital condyle (LROC), length of the left occipital condyle (LLOC), width of the foramen magnum (WFM), area of the foramen magnum (AFM) and length of the foramen magnum (LFM). The accuracy to discriminate sex ranged from 65.5% to 62.5% when LROC, LLOC, WFM, AFM, and LFM were considered as individual parameters. When multiple parameters were combined to discriminate sex, the highest accuracy of 71% was achieved.

Uterine and Tubal Abnormalities in Infertile Saudi Arabian Women: A Teaching Hospital Experience.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Hysterosalpingography (HSG) is commonly used in the evaluation of the subfertile and infertile women. This study was undertaken to assimilate the findings observed during HSG in Saudi Arabian infertile patients and to find the most common pathology identified by the HSG. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted of subfertile and infertile patients who had undergone HSG between June 2007 and May 2012. Patients' demographic data were collected from the medical records of the King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. The data included age, years of marriage, menstrual history either regular or irregular, primary/secondary infertility, hormonal profile, previous infection or pelvic surgery, and diagnostic laparoscopy. Radiographic reports of HSG were collected from the IPAC system and analyzed for fimbrial findings, tubal patency, and cervical and uterine cavitary pathology. The data were entered in the database and analyzed using a t-test to compare means between the age, type of infertility, different pathologies and for all the parameters assessed. All tests were performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 14.0, Chicago, Illinois, USA. A P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant with a confidence interval of 95%. RESULTS: Data from the medical records of 117 patients with an average age of 32.59 ± 5.48 years were analyzed. Of this total, 48 (41%) had been diagnosed as having primary infertility. In 95 (81.2%) patients, there was an abnormality in the fallopian tubes and in 27 (23%) patients, there was an abnormality in the uterus. Patients with primary infertility were significantly younger (29.7 ± 5.6 vs. 34.58 ± 4.75; P < 0.001), and tubal and uterine pathology was more common (P < 0.08 and 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our review indicates that the most common pathology found through HSG in women presenting with infertility is tubal blockage.