Three-dimensional morphological analysis of humeral heads: a study in cadavers.
BACKGROUND
Anatomy of the humeral head may be of importance for the kinematics of the shoulder joint. We therefore evaluated the three-dimensional morphology of humeral heads.


METHODS
We performed three-dimensional morphological analysis of the articular surfaces of 14 humeral heads in the proximal humeri of 7 cadavers. The articular surface was divided into 9 portions, which were in turn equally divided into 3 sections by an angle in supero-inferior and antero-posterior directions. Each portion of the articular surface was fitted to a sphere, and we calculated the radius of the curvature of each portion.


RESULTS
The mean radius of the superior portion was significantly greater than that of the central portion, and the mean radii of the anterior and posterior portions were significantly less than that of the central portion.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings lead us to believe that the morphology of the humeral head is of importance for the kinematics of the shoulder joint.
Wataru
Sahara
S
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamada-oka, Suita 565-0871, Japan. w-sahara@umin.ac.jp
Kazuomi
Sugamoto
S
Yoshikazu
Nakajima
N
Hiroaki
Inui
I
Takaharu
Yamazaki
Y
Hideki
Yoshikawa
Y
D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002102:Cadaver; D006801:Humans; D006811:Humerus / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D012785:Shoulder Joint / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000503:physiopathology