Ghias Ud Din Jan, Fazal Mahmood, Saeed Ullah.
Correlation Between the Forearm Plus Little Finger Length and The Actual Femoral Length in Orthopedic Patients Presenting with Femoral Shaft Fractures.
Ann Pak Inst Med Sci Jan ;13(4):345-8.

Objective: To determine the correlation between the forearm plus little finger length and the actual femoral length in orthopedic patients presenting with femoral shaft fractures at a teaching hospital in Islamabad. Methodology: This study was conducted at Department of Orthopedics, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad. Study design was descriptive crosssectional study and the duration of study was one year (12-7-2015 to 12-7-2016), in which a total of 30 cases was observed. Ppatients of both genders aged between 18- 70 years presenting with femoral shaft fractures. All the patients who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled into this study. A single resident measured forearm plus little finger length pre-operatively. Actual femoral length in centimeter was measured during operative procedure using a measuring tape. Patient?s demographic details and forearm plus little finger length and actual femoral lengths were recorded into the attached proforma. Results: The age of the patients ranged from 26 years to 59 years with a mean of 42.10±9.79 years. There were 27(90%) male and 3(10%) female patients in the study group. The forearm plus little finger length ranged from 38 cm to 44 cm with a mean of 40.97±2.28 cm. The actual femoral length ranged from 38 cm to 45 cm with a mean of 40.93±2.29 cm. There was significantly strong correlation between forearm plus little finger length and actual femoral length (r=.970; p=.000). When stratified, there was significantly strong correlation between forearm plus little finger length and actual femoral length across various age groups 26-36 years (r=.981, p=.000), 37-47 years (r=.946, p=.000), 48-59 years (r=.993, p=.000) and genders; male (r=.976, p=.000), female (r=.986, p=.000). Conclusion: There was significantly strong correlation between forearm plus little finger length and actual femoral length (r=.970; p=.000) regardless of patient age and gender.

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