Prevalence and Distribution of Sesamoid Bones of the Hand: A Radiographic Study in Turkish Subjects

the purpose of this study was to examine the plain anteroposterior radiographs of the hands in turkish subjects in order to determine the prevalence of sesamoid bones and their distribution. a total of 923 hand radiographs from 459 men and 464 women with a mean age of 43.76±14.8 years (range, 18-85 years) were examined. two sesamoid bones (ulnar and radial) were always present at the metacarpophalangeal (mcp) joint of the thumb (100%). one sesamoid bone in the thumb interphalangeal (ip) joint was observed in 21.3% of the cases. the prevalence of sesamoid bone of the index and little mcp joint were 36.6% and 53.2% respectively. sesamoid bones palmar to the mcp joints of the middle finger and ring finger were rare; the incidence for these locations being 1.3% (12 hands) and 0.9% (8 hands), respectively. there were no significant differences between left and right hand digits. the distribution of sesamoid bones in different locations between male and female subjects were statistically similar in 1st ip joint (p=0.530), 4th mcp (p=0.631), 5th mcp (p=0.067) joints. however, the sesamoid bones in 2nd mcp and 3rd mcp joints were statistically more frequent in female subjects (p=0.024 and p=0.018 respectively). the present study represents the first report on the prevalence and distribution of sesamoid bones in the hand in turkish subjects. the prevalence of sesamoid bones in turkish population is considerably different from the africans and europeans, but rather resembles mediterranean and arab populations.