摘要：

Background: There are currently no studies which have documented the anterior femoral curvature inKenya or elsewhere in Africa, and compared it to the curvature of the available intramedullary nails.Objective: To determine the anterior femoral curvature in cadaveric femora and to compare this with thecurvatures of locally available femoral intramedullary nails.Methods: We determined the radii of 66 cadaveric femora by the method described by Karakas and Harma.The radii of locally available femoral intramedullary nails were also obtained from the respective productmonographs.Results: We found that the radius of the curvature ranged from 52.02cm to 165.82cm with a mean of96.4cm and standard deviation of 25.61cm. The radii of locally available intra-medullary nails ranged from127cm to 200cm.Conclusion: The radius of curvature of the adult femora in Kenyans is less than that of other populations.There was a large mismatch between the available intramedullary nails and the femoral curvature. Furtherstudy of the complications resulting from this mismatch and a review of the design of the nails for local useis recommended.

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