Quantitative study of the popliteal fossa in the human fetus

Abstract

The popliteal fossa presents an extensive diamond-shaped topographical element on the posterior aspect of the knee. With the use of classical anatomical dissection, digital image analysis of NIS Elements AR 3.0 and statistics we morphometrically analyzed the size of the popliteal fossa in human fetuses aged 17–29 weeks of gestation. Morphometric parameters of the popliteal fossa increased logarithmically with fetal age: y = –44.421 + 24.301 × ln (Age) for length of superomedial boundary, y = –41.379 + 22.777 × ln (Age) for length of superolateral boundary, y = –39.019 + 20.981 × ln (Age) for inferomedial boundary, y = –37.547 + 20.319 × ln (Age), for length of inferolateral boundary, y = –28.915 + 15.822 × ln (Age) for transverse diameter, y = –69.790 + 38.73 × ln (Age) for vertical diameter and y = –485.631 + 240.844 × ln (Age) for projection surface area. Out of the four angles of the popliteal fossa the medial one was greatest, the inferior one the smallest, while the lateral one was somewhat smaller than the medial one and approximately three times greater than the superior one, with no difference with fetal age. In terms of morphometric parameters the popliteal fossa in the human fetus displays neither male-female nor right-left differences. In the popliteal fossa, growth patterns of its four boundaries, vertical and transverse diameters, and projection surface area all follow natural logarithmic functions. All the morphometric data is considered age-specific reference intervals, which may be conducive in the diagnostics of congenital abnormalities in the human fetus.