THIRD TROCANTER OF HUMAN FEMORA IN NORTH KARNATAKA REGION

Introduction: In orthopaedic surgery, trochanteric region is an important as it’s an entry point, usually lateral side of the great trochanter, although anterior and posterior approaches have variable interest. For implants such as plates and DHS (dynamic hip screw), lateral approach is standard. After skin, fat tissue and fascia lata, vastuslateralis muscle is reached and elevated to approach lateral surface of subtrochanteric area. For implants as intra-medullar nail, minimally invasive approach is in routine use. Despite abundant research of general femoral morphology, especially its specific morphological parts (femoral head, neck, shaft, and its distal part involved in knee joint). Materials and methods: Study on 158 dry adult human femur of unknown age & sex collected from the department of anatomy and phase I students of KBNIMS, Kalaburagi, Karnataka. The broken or non-dried specimens were excluded from the study. Results: The third trochanter was present in 4.43% of the femora. Although the incidence was higher on the right side it was not statistically significant. Discussion: Another study which reported the side variations in Whites and Negroes, documented higher incidence on right side in White and on left side in Negro population; it also reported the trait to be more common in females in both Whites and Negroes. Conclusion: The presence of third trochanter at the proximal part of the femur has been found to alter the break lines in the pertrochanteric fracture patients. This study dealt with the incidence of third trochanter in north Karnataka region.