Prevalence and distribution of fabella; a radiographic study in Turkish subjects.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to examine the plain knee radiographs in Turkish subjects in order to determine the prevalence of fabella and analyze the differences between age, gender, laterality and its symmetry pattern.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bilateral antero-posterior and lateral knee radiographs of 500 patients (250 male and 250 female subjects, 1000 knee radiographs) were randomly selected from the clinical database and retrospectively evaluated. Data on patient age, gender, and knee laterality (right - left) were evaluated from hospital records. The differences between the sesamoid bones at a particular location and the side, sex and age groups were analyzed.

RESULTS: The overall prevalence of the fabella (unilateral or bilateral) was 22.8% (114 subjects). The fabella was present unilaterally in 38 subjects (7.6%), while it was present bilaterally in 76 subjects (15.2 %). The prevalence of fabella was similar between the body sides. Prevalence of fabella between genders (unilateral or bilateral cases) and age groups was similar.

CONCLUSIONS: We examined the prevalence, symmetry pattern, age and gender differences in Turkish population. It is the first study performed on Turkish population with the largest sample in current literature. Prevalence of fabella is found to be 22.8% which is quite similar with other Caucasian ethnic populations.