Published Paper Details:

Introduction: Nutrient foramina of tibia are located in the proximal third of the shaft. In most of the cases nutrient foramina are located away from the growing end of the bone. During growing period 80% blood supply of bone occurs through nutrient artery. Through knowledge about the nutrient foramina and blood supply of long bone is one of the important features for success of new technique in bone transplantation and resection in orthopedics. Materials and methods: The present study was conducted on 70 dry tibiae (39 right and 31 left sided) of unknown sex from department of Anatomy of National medical College, Birgunj, Nepal. Study was done carefully for the number, position, distance of nutrient foramina from upper end and foraminal index of tibia. Results: In this study, a single diaphyseal nutrient foramen was observed in all the tibia. There were no bones with double nutrient foramen. 90% of the foramina were present in the upper third and 10% of the foramina were in the middle third, there were no any nutrient foramina on the lower third of the bone. 82.8% of the foramina were present on the posterior surface, 14.3% were on the medial surface and 2.9% were on the lateral surface. Conclusion: A knowledge of foraminal topography helps to preserve bone vasculature during surgeries. This increases the success of fracture fixation, bone grafting and knee replacement procedures involving the bones.