Anatomy and morphometrics of the radial head:​ an anthropometric study on dried cadaveric radiae

Margarita-Michaella Ampadiotaki; Ioannis Antonopoulos; Evmorfia Pechlivanidou; Amir Shihada; George Tsakotos; Dimosthenis Chrysikos; Theodore Troupis

Affiliations

¹Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

²1st Department of Orthopaedics, General Children’s Hospital of Athens ‘‘P. & A. Kyriakou’’, Athens, Greece

³Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Abstract and keywords

Background: The radial head (RH) is in close relationship with the elbow ligaments and is crucial for the elbow biomechanics. Comminuted RH fractures and radiocapitellar arthritis are indications for RH excision and replacement with a prosthesis. An RH prosthesis should closely resemble the natural anatomy both in size and shape. This anthropometric study collects raw data on the shape and size of the RH and investigates correlations between RH measurements and other radius landmarks to help design more anatomically accurate RH prostheses.

Methods: The present study was conducted on 68 dried radiae. The measurements were conducted using a digital Vernier caliper. Descriptive statistics concerning mean and standard deviation (SD) for the measurements following normal distribution and median and interquartile range (IQR) for those not were used. All measurements were treated as continuous variables. Stata, version 14, software was used for the analysis.

Results: The median anteroposterior diameter of the RH was 19.71 (IQR 18.41-21.88), and the respective values for the transverse one were 19.57 (IQR 18.11-20.95). The mean radial length was 226.78 mm (SD 17.46) and the mean fovea depth was 1.85 mm (SD 0.38). Furthermore, we developed a model that predicts the fovea depth with a minimum mean difference of −0.7 mm and a maximum of 0.8 mm. Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients revealed strong linear relationship between most of the measurements assessed in the present study.

Conclusions: We believe our study is the first to suggest predicting collinearity between radius metrics using the standard morphometric approach for raw data, favoring measurement accuracy and reliability. Radial length collinearity to all other measurements would help when normal growth is interrupted by trauma or disease in pediatric orthopedic patients, and fovea depth prediction with simple radiographic measurements could aid intraoperative planning for radial head replacement with prosthesis.

Level of evidence: Anatomy Study; Cadaver Dissection

Keywords: Radial head anatomy; radial head prosthesis; anthropometric; radial head fractures; radial fovea depth; radius morphometrics

Links

DOI: 10.1016/j.jse.2025.03.026

PubMed: 40300746

WoS: 001639734000001

Cited Works (4)

Year	Entry
2010	Lievers WB, Poljsak AS, Waldman SD, Pilkey AK. Effects of dehydration-induced structural and material changes on the apparent modulus of cancellous bone. Med Eng Phys. 2010;32(8):921-925.
2008	McHanwell S, Brenner E, Chirculescu ARM, Drukker J, van Mameren H, Mazzotti G, Pais D, Paulsen F, Plaisant O, Caillaud MM, Laforêt E, Riederer BM, Sañudo JR, Bueno-López JL, Doñate-Oliver F, Sprumont P, Teofilovski-Parapid G, Moxham BJ. The legal and ethical framework governing body donation in Europe: a review of current practice and recommendations for good practice. Eur J Anat. 2008;12(1):1-24.
2011	Bonewald LF. The amazing osteocyte. J Bone Miner Res. 2011;26(2):229-238.
2007	Lievers WB, Lee V, Arsenault SM, Waldman SD, Pilkey AK. Specimen size effect in the volumetric shrinkage of cancellous bone measured at two levels of dehydration. J Biomech. 2007;40(9):1903-1909.