Introduction: Nutrient foramen of tibia is located in the proximal third of shaft. In most of the cases nutrient foramen located away from the growing end. During growing period 80% of blood supply of bone occurs through nutrient artery. Through knowledge about the nutrient foramen and blood supply of long bone is one of the important features for success of new technique in bone transplantation and resection in orthopaedics.

Material and Methods: The present study was conducted on 60 dry tibia (35 right and 25 left sided) of unknown sex from department of Anatomy and department of Forensic Medicine of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, Bihar and also from Darbhanga Medical College, Laheriasarai, Bihar, India. Studied carefully for the number, position, distance of nutrient foramen from upper and lower end and the foraminal index of tibia.

Results: In this study single nutrient foramen was found in 95% of Tibia and double nutrient foramen on in 5%. All the tibia either right or left showed nutrient foramen on the upper one third. All the bones showed the nutrient foramen on the posterior surface. Among the right tibia nutrient foramen were found lateral to the vertical line in 92.29% and medial to vertical line in 5.71%. Foraminal index on the right tibia was 32.48 and on the left side was 32.36.

Conclusion: It is important to know clinically about the number, direction and position of nutrient foramen during vascularisd bone grafting to preserve the blood supply of graft.

Keywords: Nutrient Foramina, Foraminal Index

1. Kelly PJ, Nelson Jr GE, Peterson LFA, Bulbulian AH. The blood supply of the tibia. SurgClin North America 1961;41:1463-71.
2. Trueta, Blood supply and the rate of healing of tibial fractures, ClinOrthopRel Res, 105, 1953, 11-26.
3. R. Mysorekar, A.N. Nandedkar, Diaphysial nutrient foramina in human phalanges. J Anat, 128, 1979, 315-322.
4. BulstrodeC,BuckwalterJ,CarrA,MarshL,FairbankJ,Mc Donald JW et al, editors. Oxford textbook of orthopaedics and trauma,Vol.3.NewYork:Oxford University Press;2002.p.2291-2.
5. Guo, Observations of the blood supply to the fibula, Arch OrthopTraumatSurg, 98, 1981, 147-145.
6. H. Kirschner, J. Menck, A. Hennerbichler, O. Gaber and G.O. Hofmann, Importance of arterial blood supply to the femur and tibia transplantation of vascularised femoral diaphyseal and knee joints, World J Surg, 22, 1998, 845-852.
7. Wavreille G, Dos Remedios C, Chantelot C, Limousin M & Fontaine C. Anatomic bases of vascularised elbow joint harvesting to achieve vascularised allograft. SurgRadiolAnat 2006; 28: 498-510.
8. Nagel A. The clinical significance of the nutrient artery. Orthop Rev 1993; 22:557-61.
9. Ciszek B &Glinkowski W. Nutrient foramina in the diaphyses of long bones. OrthopTraumatolRehabil 2000; 2: 97-9.
10. Lee JH, Ehara S, Tamakawa Y &Horiguchi M. Nutrient canal of the fibula. Skeletal Radiol 2000; 29:22-6.
11. Dyankova S. Vascular anatomy of the radius and ulna diaphyses in their reconstructive surgery. ActaChirPlast 2004; 46:105-9.
12. Chen B, Pei GX, Jin D, Wei KH, Qin Y & Liu QS. Distribution and property of nerve fibers in human long bone tissue. Chin J Traumatol 2007; 10:3-9.
13. Kizilkanat E, Boyan N, Ozsahin ET, Soames R &Oguz O. Location, number and clinical significance of nutrient foramina in human long bones. Ann Anat 2007; 189:87-95.
14. Murlimanju B, Prashanth K, Prabhu LV, Chettiar GK, Pai MM, Dhananjaya K. Morphological and topographical anatomy of nutrient foramina in the lower limb long bones and its clinical importance. Australas Med J 2011;4(10):530–7.
15. ShamsunderRao V, JyothinathKothapalli. The diaphyseal nutrient foramina architecture—a study on the human upper and lower limb long bones. IOSR J Pharm BiolSci 2014;9(1):36–41.
16. Raj Kumar, Raghuveer Singh Mandoli RS, Singh AL. Analytical and morphometric study of nutrient foramina of femur in Rohilkhand region. Innovat J Med Health Sci 2013;3:252–4.
17. Chattrapati DN and Misra BD. Position of the nutrient foramen on the shafts of human long bones. J AnatSocInd 1967; 16: 54-63.
18. Mysorekar VR. Diaphyseal nutrient foramina in human long bones.JAnat 1967; 101(4):813822.
19. Longia GS, Ajmani ML, Saxena SK, and Thomas RJ. Study of the diaphyseal nutrient foramina in human long bones. ActaAnat 1980; 107:399-406.
20. Collipal E, Vergas R, Parra X, Silva H, and Sol MD. Diaphyseal nutrient foramina in the femur, tibia, and fibula bones. Int J Morphhol 2007; 25(2):305-308.
21. Tejaswi HL, Shetty K and Dakshayani KR. Anatomic study of the nutrient foramina in the human tibiae and their clinical importance. Int J Recent trends in Sci and Tech 2014; 9 (3):334-336.
22. Sendemir,E.,Cimen,A.;NutrientForaminaInTheShaftsOfLower Limb Long Bones: Situation And Number. Surg. Radiol. Anat. 13, 105–108.1991.
23. Roopam Kumar Gupta, Gupta ArunaKumari; A study of diaphyseal nutrient foramina human tibia;National journal of Medical Research;Volume4,Issue4,Oct–Dec2014Page310.
24. Kate BR. Nutrient Foramina in human long bones. J AnatSocInd 1971; 20(3):139-145.

Avanish Kumar

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.