Morphological evaluation and clinical significance of the supracondylar process and supratrochlear foramen: an anatomic and radiological study

Background: In our literature review, we did not encounter any study examining the supracondylar process (SP) and the supratrochlear foramen (STF) with a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction method. The present study aimed to evaluate SP and STF morphologically by employing the 3D reconstruction method and emphasize their clinical significance. Materials and methods: The research was carried out on dried human humeri of unknown sex and without pathological alterations. A total of 81 humeri (42 right, 39 left) were obtained from the Departments of Anatomy of Gazi University Faculty of Medicine and Lokman Hekim University Faculty of Medicine. The morphometric measurements of SP and STF were made with a digital vernier caliper. The computed tomography (CT) images acquired for radiological evaluation were analyzed with the 3D reconstruction method. Results: The narrower distal medullary canal widths of humeri with STF were found to be statistically significant. No statistically significant difference was found between the transverse diameters (TD), vertical diameters (VD), the distance of the medial edge to the medial epicondyle (ME), and the distance of the lateral edge to the lateral epicondyle (LE) of the supratrochlear foramen of the right and left humeri. Conclusions: The supracondylar process is often evaluated by mistake as a pathological condition of the bone, not as a normal anatomical variation. Knowing different shapes and dimensions, e.g., the TD and VD distance in which STF emerges, can assist in avoiding the misinterpretation of radiographs