PREVALENCE OF THE STERNAL FORAMEN IN THE REFERENCE OSTEOLOGICAL COLLECTION OF THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE OF FAP-ARARIPINA (PE) AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH SEXUAL DIMORPHISM

Abstract

The human skeleton can present several variations that occasionally require distinction from a pathological variation, the sternum bone is one of the parts with frequent variations seen in images, necropsies or in dry skeletons and one of the variations of this bone is the presence of the sternal foramen, located either in the body or in the xiphoid process or both. This foramen is an anatomical variation that has been well described in terms of morphological aspects, risk of inappropriate use in the practice of acupuncture and complications of puncture through it. The objective of our study was to analyze, in an Osteological Collection of the Faculty of Medicine of FAP-Araripina (PE), the prevalence of this foramen, its location and relate its presence with sexual dimorphism. We used a sample of 250 dry adult sternums, 160 male and 90 female. We classify the sterna into four types according to the presence or absence of the sternal foramen. Type 1, foramen absent; Type 2, foramen present in the body; Type 3, foramen present in the xiphoid process and Type 4, foramen present in both the body and the xiphoid process. After analyzing the data, we obtained the following results: in 92.8% of the sterna the foramen was absent (Type 1). Type 2 was found in 3.6% of cases, followed by Type 3 with 2.8% and Type 4 with just 0.8%. In males, the sternal foramen was more common. In view of the above, it is necessary to carry out more studies on our population, due to the large territorial area of ​​Brazil and the great miscegenation that exists.