INCIDENCE OF BIFID RIBS AND ITS CLINICAL IMPLICATION
Dr. Padamjeet Panchal and Dr. Bheem Prasad*
ABSTRACT
Background: There are twelve pair of ribs along with sternum and thoracic vertebrae that forms thoracic cage. The occurrence of structural congenital anomalies of ribs are rarely reported. The bifid rib is occasionally encountered as a radiological observation during thoracic skiagrams or clinical examinations of patient. It is sometimes also find out during postmortem examination. In the literature, very little information was found related to the clinical significance of bifid ribs. Aims: The aims of the study was to find out rate of occurrence of various kinds of rib anomalies. Material and methods: 360 pairs of thoracic ribs including right and left side were studied in Department of Anatomy, AIIMS Patna. The various parameters in the variant ribs were studies such as incidence of variant rib, distance from the posterior end of rib to start of bifurcation, length of the bifurcated part of rib, distance between the bifurcated end of bifid rib, length of rib along upper and lower borders and side of the variant rib. Results: Out of 360 pairs of ribs, only 2 bifid ribs were found. One was found on right side 4th and 5th ribs. There was no incidence of presence of any rib with spur or fused rib. Conclusion: there was a 0.28% of detection rate bifid rib. It was mainly found on right side. The knowledge of such rare observations may prevent erroneous interpretation of skiagrams and performance of unnecessary procedures, including exploratory surgery.
Keywords: Bifurcated rib, chest wall anomaly, intrathoracic rib.
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