The anthropometry of the proximal femur holds great clinical significance in designing implants and prostheses for proximal femoral fractures and hip joint arthroplasties. Surgical fixation with a properly matched prosthesis plays a crucial role in improving long-term treatment outcomes and preventing post-operative complications such as osteolysis with aseptic loosening and increased load. The femur is also one of the most commonest used bones for stature estimation. Often during forensic investigations, only fragmented remains of femur are found available from which femoral length is estimated by application of linear regression equations. The estimated femoral length thus obtained is used for stature estimation of the unidentified individual. This study has measured nine bony parameters from the proximal femur in a total of 96 dry femora. These measurements include the vertical head diameter, neck diameter, neck thickness, neck length, neck shaft angle, the transverse diameter of the fovea, longitudinal diameter of the fovea, foveal depth, and the intertrochanteric line length. In addition, the total length of the femur was also measured. The results were tabulated and statistically analyzed using SPSS software, version 25. The mean femoral head diameter was observed to be 41.59±3.25 mm, mean foveal depth was found to be 2.95±0.75 mm, mean foveal transverse and longitudinal diameters were observed to be 11.38±2.35 mm and 15.94±3.37 mm, respectively. The mean neck diameter was 29.45±3.33 mm. Mean neck length and neck thickness were observed to be 36.06±4.94 mm and 27.61±2.71 mm, respectively. Neck shaft angle was noted to range from 109° to 128°, with a mean of 119.08°±5.18°. The mean length of the inter-trochanteric line was measured to be 41.92±3.9 mm. The mean femoral length was observed to be 42.11±2.91 cm. Significant positive correlations were found between the various measured proximal morphometric parameters of the femur. The length of the femur showed a maximum positive correlation with the vertical head diameter, followed by the neck diameter, thickness, and foveal depth. The findings of this study can throw further light on the existing data. They can serve as a guideline for designing better-matched prostheses and implants for hip surgeries in the eastern Uttar Pradesh population.
Keywords: femur head diameter; femur length; fovea capitis; morphometry; neck shaft angle; proximal femur.
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