Anat Cell Biol.  2017 Jun;50(2):93-98. 10.5115/acb.2017.50.2.93.

Vascular foramina of navicular bone: a morphometric study

• Prathapamchandra V
• Ravichandran P
• Shanmugasundaram J
• Jayaraman
• Salem RS

• KMID: 2451233
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5115/acb.2017.50.2.93

Abstract

The navicular bone is supplied by more than one artery. The knowledge about the vascular foramina is important to understand the pathogenesis and management of navicular fractures. The objective of the present study is to analyze the morphology and morphometry of vascular foramina of dried human navicular bone in Indian population. The study was carried out by using 100 navicular bones (50 right and 50 left) collected from our institute and other medical institutes in and around Puducherry. The bones were macroscopically studied for vascular foramina with respect to its location, number, size, and shape. The data collected were statistically analyzed. The vascular foramina were present on dorsal, plantar, medial, and lateral surfaces of navicular bone. Kruskal-Wallis test followed by series of Mann-Whitney test for post hoc analysis showed the number of nutrient foramina observed on dorsal surface were significantly greater than those observed on the plantar (U=2,755, P=0.001), medial (U=43, P=0.001), and lateral (U=626.5, P=0.001) surfaces of the navicle. About 97.6% of foramina were circular and 2.5% were oval in appearance. About 96.7% of vascular foramina were <1 mm in size and 3.3% were ≥1 mm in size. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient done showed a strong, positive correlation between vascular foramina of <1 mm size and circular shape, which was statistically significant (r(s)=0.981, P=0.001). We believe the present study has provided additional information on the vascular foramina of navicular bone and useful to surgeons in foot surgeries.

Keyword

Navicular; Stress fractures; Vascular foramina

MeSH Terms

Academies and Institutes
Arteries
Foot
Fractures, Stress
Humans
Surgeons

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Representative photographs showing the navicular bone. (A) Right navicular bone showing well-marked groove leading to vascular foramen (arrow) on dorsal surface. (B) Left navicular bone showing the measurements on dorsal surface of the navicular bone. RP, midpoint of navicular tuberosity; D1, the distance from the RP to the first vascular foramina; D2, the distance from the RP to the second vascular foramina; D3, the distance from the RP to the third vascular foramina; D4, the distance from the RP to the fourth vascular foramina; L, length of the navicular bone.

• 

  Fig. 2 Representative photographs showing different surfaces of navicular bone. (A) Right navicular bone showing the oval type vascular foramina (arrows) on dorsal surface. (B) Left navicular bone showing the circular type vascular foramina (arrows) on the plantar surface. (C) Right navicular bone showing the circular type vascular foramina (arrow) on lateral surface. (D) Left navicular bone showing the oval type vascular foramina (arrows) on medial surface.

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