مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - The calcaneal angles in the Turkish population

Latin Abstract :

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the calcaneal angles on radiograms of individuals without a calcaneal fracture. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a total of 308 digi¬tal records of lateral ankle or foot radiographs taken from 268 patients (106 males, 162 females; mean age 42 years; range 18-79 years) without a calcaneal fracture. On these radiographs, the reference lines were drawn with the use of an angle measurement software with a sensitivity of 1/100 mm and the B6hler (BA) and Gissane (GA) angles were measured. The distribution characteristics of the angles with respect to age, gender, and side of the body were ana¬lyzed and compared with those of previous studies. Results: The mean BA was 33.8±4.8° (range 20° to 46°) and the mean GA was 115.0±6.5° (range 100° to 133°). There were no significant differences for both angles with respect to measurements obtained from the right and left sides (for BA, p=0.198; for GA, p=0.601) and from both sexes (for BA, p=0.177; for GA, p=0.412). The highest (35.2°) and lowest (32.3°) means of BA were seen in the age brackets of 41-50 and 61-83 years, respectively. The corresponding age brackets for GA were 21-30 and 51-60 years with 115.7° and 114.4°, respectively. There were no significant differences between the age groups for both angles (for BA, p=0.086; for GA, p=0.955). Of note, the mean BA was significantly higher than those reported in previous studies. There was no correlation between BA and GA (r=0.018; p=0.76), nor between the calcaneal angles and age (for BA, r=-0.092; p=0.11 and for GA, r=-0.070; p=0.22). Conclusion: The calcaneal angles show considerable vari¬ations in diverse ethnic groups and populations in terms of normal range, age, gender, and side. The ranges herein reported (20-46° for BA, 100-133° for GA) can be used as reference values for the Turkish population.