Morphological variations of the femoral head-neck junction in historical skeletal material.

Background: Poirier's facet, Allen's fossa and femoral plague are the main morphological variations of the femoral head-neck junction. The study aimed to answer questions about the association between the shape of the proximal end of the femoral bone and acetabulum in bones with head-neck junction changes and the differences in shape and size between joints with the above changes and joints without ones. Methods: The analyses were performed on the computed tomography scans (CTs) of the 52 sets of bones (femur and pelvic bone) from the Polish skeletal material dated to the 14th-19th centuries. Based on CTs, three-dimensional models of the femurs and pelvic bones were created and then analysed using linear measurements and a geometric morphometric approach. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was calculated to analyse differences in size; in turn, canonical variate analysis (CVA) was calculated to investigate changes in shape between bones with femoral-neck changes and bones without ones. Results: According to the CVA, there were no significant differences in shape between bones with Allen's fossa, femoral plaque, or Porier's facet and hip joints without any observable changes ( Conclusions: Geometric morphometrics and measurements showed similarities in the shape of the joints with and without changes in head-neck junction region. This may indicate that morphological changes in the femoral head-neck junction do not significantly affect the morphology of the femur and acetabulum. However, understanding the role and efficiency of this influence needs further studies.