Morphological study on distribution of nutrient foramina in femoral neck in relation to retinacula of weitbrecht with its surgical implications

Background: Now a day's many surgeries are done around the head and neck of femur like femoral head resurfacing arthroplasty for managing advanced hip-joint degeneration. Thus, it is vital for an orthopaedic surgeon to exactly understand the vascular supply of the neck of femur. The knowledge of distribution of foramina and their relation to the retinacula of Weitbrecht will help orthopaedic surgeons to choose their management technique for various injuries. So, this study was undertaken to study the number, size and distribution of nutrient foramina in all the surfaces of neck of femur and their relations to the retinacula of Weitbrecht. Materials and method: Study was conducted on 200 adult dry femora. The retinacula of Weitbrecht are first defined later the subcapital, transcervical and basicervical regions of the femoral neck are marked. The number of foramina, size and their distribution in relations to the retinacula of Weitbrecht were observed. Later the results were analyzed statistically. Results: 40.01% of foramina were observed in the subcapital region, 31.74% in basicervical and 28.24% were noted in transcervical region. The nutrient foraminal density was significantly higher in the upper retinacula (57.03%), followed by anterior retinacula (27.3%) and least in the region of inferior retinacula (15.66%). It was observed that most foramina were less than 1 mm diameter followed by 1–2 mm diameter foramina. Conclusion: This knowledge of foraminal distribution in femoral neck will be helpful in surgeries involving the hip joint and femoral head & neck fractures.