Radiological Morphometry of Adult Clavicle in Rivers State
This work was carried out to determine the average length and mid shaft diameter of the clavicle; to determine the correlation between the Clavicular length and mid shaft diameter of the clavicle on both right and left sides of the clavicle of adults in Rivers State. This work also seeks to establish a formulae for determining the right clavicular length using the left clavicular length and to evaluate if there are sexual or ethnic variations in these parameters. 400 normal Posterior anterior chest radiographs of adult Nigerians in Rivers state between the age range of 18 and 85 years were used for this study. Two hundred and eleven (211) males and one hundred and eighty nine (189) females respectively. The mean right and left clavicular length for males were 15.44±1.05cm and 15.75±1.02cm while, for females, it was 14.45±1.01cm and 14.79±1.13cm respectively. It was observed that the males had a significantly higher clavicular length than the females (p<0.05). The mean of the right and left mid shaft diameter of the clavicle for males was 1.17±0.15cm and 1.186±0.16cm, while for females, it was 0.99±0.13cm and 1.00cm±0.14 respectively. It was observed that the mean of the mid shaft diameter of the clavicle for male was significantly higher than that of the females (p<0.05). It was observed that the left clavicle was longer than the right clavicle for both males and females. It was also observed that, there were ethnic differences in these parameters. This study also observed that there was a strong positive correlation between right clavicular length and left clavicular length for males (p<0.05). This research has provided a baseline data for the Clavicular length and mid shaft diameter of the clavicle in Rivers state. It has also provided a formulae for estimation of the right clavicular length from the left clavicular length. It will be useful to the anatomist, radiologist, the surgeon, forensic scientist and biological anthropologist.
Key Words: Clavicle, morphometry, Radiographs, Rivers State