Morphometric characteristics of the fibular incisura in adult Kenyans

Abstract

To describe the morphometry of the fibular incisura in a sample Kenyan population, a total of 156 tibiae were obtained for the present study from the Department of Human Anatomy, University of Nairobi and the osteology collection of the National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi. The height, width and depth of the fibular incisura as well as the length of the anterior and posterior incisural tubercles were measured using a digital pair of vernier calipers (SealeyProfessional Tools^TM). Average values for the height, depth and width of the fibular incisura were 32.35± 4.14mm, 3.44±0.87mm and 21.50±2.37mm respectively while average lengths of the anterior and posterior tubercles of the fibular incisura were 11.40±1.89mm and 16.11±2.08mm respectively. Majority of tibiae (75%) had a shallow concave fibular incisura (< 4.0mm). There were statistically significant differences between males and females in all these dimensions. Shallow fibular incisurae in the majority of the tibiae studied, as well as the predominant shallower, shorter incisurae in female subjects suggests an inherent osteological weakness in the tibiofibular syndesmosis. Data obtained in the current study provides baseline values to guide interpretation of diagnostic images.

Key words: Fibular incisura, tibio-fibular syndesmosis.