Three-dimensional analysis of shape variations and symmetry of the fibula, tibia, calcaneus and talus.

ABSTRACT: The bones forming the talocrural joint (TCJ) and subtalar joint (STJ) are often assumed to be bilaterally symmetric. Therefore, the contralateral limb (i.e. the fibula, tibia, calcaneus and talus) is used as a template or an intra-subject control in clinical and research practice. However, the validity of the symmetry assumption is controversial, because insufficient information is available on the shape variations and bilateral (a)symmetry of the fibula, tibia, calcaneus and talus. Using three-dimensional spatially dense sampled representations of bone shapes extracted from bilateral computed tomography scans of 66 individuals (55 male, mean age: 61 ± 10 years; 11 female, mean age: 53 ± 15 years), we analyzed whether: (i) similar shape patterns exist in the left and right bones of the sam

SUBMITTER: Tumer N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6284442 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature