Morphological variation of the femoral head fovea capitis

ABSTRACT

The fovea capitis femoris receives the distal attachment of the ligamentum teres femoris. Although recent research has shown that the latter may have a number of functions including mechanical stability to the hip joint, there is little published information on the morphological variation of the fovea capitis femoris. The present study investigates the morphological variation of the fovea capitis femoris with respect to sex and age. Morphometric properties were recorded from both left and right femurs of 212 individuals from the Athens skeletal collection. The fovea capitis femoris was photographed en face with a reference scale and a polyline outlining its boundary edges was extracted. Two shape variables and three size variables of the fovea capitis femoris were calculated and used in the morphological analysis. Two variables, one size and one shape variable, exhibited bilateral asymmetry. The sexual dimorphism of fovea capitis femoris is attributed to size variables, while at the same time there are age-related changes in its shape. The fovea capitis area and the fovea capitis maximum diameter have significant higher values in males, while the perimeter of fovea capitis tends to have a more irregular shape in older individuals. However, fovea capitis femoris cannot be used for age estimation or sex determination of a human skeleton

RESUMEN

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