Radiographic analysis of the proximal femoral anatomy in the Croatian population

The goal of total hip endoprosthesis is to achieve painless and functional hip for long term. Accurate reconstruction of hip anatomy largely depends on the implant design. In order to select an implant in correspondence with the native hip, the proximal femoral morphology has been in focus of many studies in the past years. The purpose of this study is to analyze proximal femoral geometry in the Croatian population by radiographic evaluation.

We conducted a retrospective study analyzing conventional radiographies of the hip, obtained within the last four years from the database of Clinic for Orthopaedic Surgery Lovran. The number of studied patients was 300,168 women and 132 men. The proximal femoral geometric parameters assessed were as follows: femoral head diameter, femoral neck length, neck-shaft angle, angle of femoral neck anteversion, and lateral femoral offset. The results obtained were compared between genders and with results of other studies.

Proximal femoral anatomy differed in femoral head diameter and lateral femoral offset between males and females in our group of patients, while femoral neck length, femoral neck shaft angle, and femoral neck anteversion have shown similar values in both genders. Our study also showed specificity of the Croatian population in almost all parameters of proximal femoral anatomy, in comparison with other ethnic groups.

Our results support the observation on high diversity in the morphology of the proximal femur and the specificity of the proximal femoral anatomy of the Croatian population.