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The Anatomy of the Acetabulum: What is Normal?

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Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research

Abstract

Published studies of the human hip make frequent reference to the normal pelvis and acetabulum. However, other than qualitative descriptions we found no clinically applicable published references describing a normal pelvis and acetabulum; such information is important for designing certain kinds of implants (eg, reconstruction cages). We describe a method to quantify, average, and apply data gathered from normal human specimens to create a standard representation of the ilium and ischium. One hundred healthy hemipelves from 50 human skeletons were evaluated. We measured angles and distances between major anatomic landmarks in the pelvis. The data collected were analyzed for variance and averaged to create a normal topographic map. Finally, we examined several commercially available acetabular reconstruction cages to determine the fit to the anatomically determined normal pelvis. These results provide a representation of true acetabular geometry and may serve as the basis for future acetabular reconstruction cage design.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Kate Sutton, Alvin Perez, and Jianhua Shen from Stryker Orthopaedics and Lyman Jellema, Director of the Hamann-Todd Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, for assistance throughout this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Reconstructive Surgery, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Viktor Krebs MD

  2. Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA

    Stephen J. Incavo MD

  3. Adult Reconstructive Surgery, The Methodist Hospital, 6550 Fannin, 25th Floor, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Stephen J. Incavo MD

  4. Stryker Orthopaedics, Mahwah, NJ, USA

    William H. Shields BS

Authors
  1. Viktor Krebs MD
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  2. Stephen J. Incavo MD
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  3. William H. Shields BS
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen J. Incavo MD.

Additional information

The following authors (VK, SJI, WHS) certify they have received payments or benefits from a commercial entity (Stryker Orthopaedics) related to this work.

Each author certifies that his or her institution has approved or waived the human protocol for this investigation, that all investigations were conducted in conformity with ethical principles of research.

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Krebs, V., Incavo, S.J. & Shields, W.H. The Anatomy of the Acetabulum: What is Normal?. Clin Orthop Relat Res 467, 868–875 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-008-0317-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-008-0317-1

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