Abstract
Objective
To investigate the different morphologic types of the fovea capitis femoris and the spectrum of osseous spurs/osteophytes of the fovea in asymptomatic volunteers and patients with hip osteoarthritis.
Material and methods
Sixty-five patients (mean age 63.6 years) with radiographically confirmed osteoarthritis of the hip and 59 asymptomatic healthy volunteers (mean age 33.9 years) underwent non-contrast MRI of the hip joint. Two radiologists independently evaluated all images. Fovea morphology (standard type, diamond type, flat type, triangular type) as well as the frequency, size and location of spurs/osteophytes of the fovea were assessed. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied.
Results
The most frequent morphologic type of the fovea capitis femoris was the standard type for both asymptomatic volunteers (average 45%) and patients (average 49%). Osseous spurs were detected in 70% of the asymptomatic volunteers, and 97% of the patients had osteophytes. Spur size at all locations was significantly smaller in asymptomatic volunteers (range 1–2 mm) than osteophyte size in patients (range 1-4 mm) (p ≤ 0.035). In volunteers and patients, the spurs/osteophytes were most frequently located at the anterior border of the fovea capitis femoris.
Conclusion
Smaller osseous spurs (<2 mm) at the border of the fovea capitis femoris are very common in asymptomatic volunteers and do not seem to be pathologic.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kluzek S, Newton JL, Arden NK. Is osteoarthritis a metabolic disorder? Br Med Bull. 2015;115:111–21.
Jonsson H, Olafsdottir S, Sigurdardottir S, et al. Incidence and prevalence of total joint replacements due to osteoarthritis in the elderly: risk factors and factors associated with late life prevalence in the AGES-Reykjavik study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2016;17:14.
Teichtahl AJ, Wang Y, Smith S, et al. Early cartilage abnormalities at the hip are associated with obesity and body composition measures—a 3.0T MRI community-based study. Arthritis Res Ther. 2015;17, 107
Reyes C, Leyland KM, Peat G, Cooper C, Arden NK, Prieto-Alhambra D. Association between overweight and obesity and risk of clinically diagnosed knee, hip, and hand osteoarthritis: a population-based cohort study. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2016;68:1869–75.
Gupta KB, Duryea J, Weissman BN. Radiographic evaluation of osteoarthritis. Radiol Clin N Am. 2004;42:11–41. v
Amstutz HC, Le Duff MJ. The natural history of osteoarthritis: what happens to the other hip? Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2016;474:1802–9.
Neuman P, Hulth A, Linden B, Johnell O, Dahlberg L. The role of osteophytic growth in hip osteoarthritis. Int Orthop. 2003;27:262–6.
Claassen H, Tschirner T. Topographical and histological examination of osteophytes taken from arthrotic femoral heads. Ann Anat. 2003;185:67–71.
Jeffery AK. Osteophytes and the osteoarthritic femoral head. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1975;57:314–24.
Siebelt M, Agricola R, Weinans H, Kim YJ. The role of imaging in early hip OA. Osteoarthr Cartil. 2014;22:1470–80.
Galimberti A, Marabelli A. Considerations on osteophytosis of the fovea capitis as an early sign of coxarthrosis. Osp Ital Chir. 1966;15:517–21.
Di Vittorio S, Monateri PC. Osteophytosis of the fovea; early x-ray manifestation of primary coxofemoral arthrosis. Reumatismo. 1957;9:305–9.
Varich L, Pathria M, Resnick D, et al. Patterns of central acetabular osteophytosis in osteoarthritis of the hip. Investig Radiol. 1993;28:1120–7.
Hanke MS, Steppacher SD, Anwander H, Werlen S, Siebenrock KA, Tannast M. What MRI findings predict failure 10 years after surgery for femoroacetabular impingement? Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2017;475:1192–207.
Kellgren JHJM, Ball J. Atlas of standard radiographs, vol. 2. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific; 1963.
Sutter R, Dietrich TJ, Zingg PO, Pfirrmann CW. Assessment of femoral antetorsion with MRI: comparison of oblique measurements to standard transverse measurements.AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2015;205(1):130-5. doi:10.2214/AJR.14.13617.
Cerezal L, Kassarjian A, Canga A, et al. Anatomy, biomechanics, imaging, and management of ligamentum teres injuries. Radiographics. 2010;30:1637–51.
Rao J, Zhou YX, Villar RN. Injury to the ligamentum teres. Mechanism, findings, and results of treatment. Clin Sports Med. 2001;20:791–9. vii
Bardakos NV, Villar RN. The ligamentum teres of the adult hip. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2009;91:8–15.
Sampatchalit S, Barbosa D, Gentili A, Haghighi P, Trudell D, Resnick D. Degenerative changes in the ligamentum teres of the hip: cadaveric study with magnetic resonance arthrography, anatomical inspection, and histologic examination. J Comput Assist Tomogr. 2009;33:927–33.
Soames R. Gray’s anatomy: the anatomical basis of medicine and surgery. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 1995.
Notzli HP, Muller SM, Ganz R. The relationship between fovea capitis femoris and weight bearing area in the normal and dysplastic hip in adults: a radiologic study. Z Orthop Ihre Grenzgeb. 2001;139:502–6.
Beltran LS, Mayo JD, Rosenberg ZS, et al. Fovea alta on MR images: is it a marker of hip dysplasia in young adults? AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2012;199:879–83.
Perumal V, Woodley SJ, Nicholson HD. The morphology and morphometry of the fovea capitis femoris. Surg Radiol Anat. 2017;39:791–8.
Kaukinen P, Podlipska J, Guermazi A, et al. Associations between MRI-defined structural pathology and generalized and localized knee pain - the Oulu knee osteoarthritis study. Osteoarthr Cartil. 2016;24:1565–76.
Lawrence CR, East B, Rashid A, Tytherleigh-Strong GM. The prevalence of osteoarthritis of the sternoclavicular joint on computed tomography. J Shoulder Elb Surg. 2017;26:e18–22.
Uson J, Fernandez-Espartero C, Villaverde V, et al. Symptomatic and asymptomatic interphalageal osteoarthritis: an ultrasonographic study. Reumatol Clin. 2014;10:278–82.
Mallinson PI, Tun JK, Farnell RD, Campbell DA, Robinson P. Osteoarthritis of the thumb carpometacarpal joint: correlation of ultrasound appearances to disability and treatment response. Clin Radiol. 2013;68:461–5.
Choo HJ, Lee SJ, Kim JH, et al. Can symptomatic acromioclavicular joints be differentiated from asymptomatic acromioclavicular joints on 3-T MR imaging? Eur J Radiol. 2013;82:e184–91.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Disclosures
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bensler, S., Agten, C.A., Pfirrmann, C.W.A. et al. Osseous spurs at the fovea capitis femoris—a frequent finding in asymptomatic volunteers. Skeletal Radiol 47, 69–77 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-017-2763-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-017-2763-x