The Morphometry of the Foot in Fetal Human Cadavers

Abstract

Foot and associated formations have important functions in the musculoskeletal system. Recognition of normal parameter values related to the fetus in fetal development is important for the derivation of fetal growth curves, as each society determines its own normal values for its own population. There are limited number of studies on foot morphology in particular. Therefore, the aim of our study was to determine the measurements of morphological characteristics in human fetuses depending on gestational age, gender and side. Our study was carried out on 30 fetuses. Bilateral acropodian-pternion measurement (AP), the pternion measurement of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th fingers (2P, 3P, 4P, 5P), metatarsaltibia-metatarsalfibula measurement (MT-MF), lengths of the 1., 2., 3rd, 4th, 5th toes (1TL, 2TL, 3TL, 4TL, 5TL), malleolus width (MW), proximal metatarsal width (PMW), distal metatarsal width (DMW), lateral forefoot length ( LFL), the length of the sole of the foot with the medial malleol (MMFL), the length of the sole of the foot (LMFL) with the lateral malleol, and the length of the lower leg (LLL) were measured on all fetuses. Furthermore, the foot index (FI), lower limb length (LL), and leg index (LI) values were also calculated. The difference between trimesters was found statistically significant for all parameters measured except bilateral AI, and right BI measurements. All parameters except left LMFL at 2nd trimester and PMW at 3rd trimester were higher in female fetuses. However, the difference between genders was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The difference between trimesters was significant for all measurements. Furthermore, a correlation was detected between many parameters. In our study, it was found that foot measurements in fetal cadavers did not change with gender, but increased as the week of gestation increased. It was concluded that the data obtained from our study would be useful for further studies as well as recognition of fetal foot anatomy in obstetrics, perinatology, fetopathology, and pediatric surgery.