Femur (lateral view)

Last revised by Andrew Murphy on 23 Mar 2023

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Er A, Murphy A, Femur (lateral view). Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 20 Apr 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-80279

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-80279

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/80279

rID:

80279

Article created:

19 Jul 2020, Amanda Er ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Amanda Er had no recorded disclosures.

View Amanda Er's current disclosures

Last revised:

23 Mar 2023, Andrew Murphy ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Andrew Murphy had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Andrew Murphy's current disclosures

Revisions:

3 times, by 2 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Musculoskeletal

Sections:

Radiography

The lateral femur view is part of a standard series examining the femur in its entirety, including the hip and knee joint. Due to the limitations of the image detector, these projections are often performed in two images per view to ensure inclusion of both knee and hip joints.

This view demonstrates the femur in an orthogonal position to the AP view. This allows assessment of suspected dislocations, fractures, localizing foreign bodies and osteomyelitis within the long bone. Depending on departments, this view can be crucial for orthopedic surgeons to determine the length of the femur for prosthetic purposes.

Patient position

the patient is rolled at least 45° onto the side of interest
the unaffected leg is bent to stabilize the patient position i.e. foot firm on the bed to ensure stability
if acquiring the entire femur in one image, place the detector in a diagonal position parallel with the femur

Technical factors

anteroposterior projection
centering point
- for one image: mid femur region
- for two images:
  - proximal femur: place detector to include anatomy from ASIS to mid-femoral shaft
  - distal femur: place detector to include anatomy from mid-femoral shaft to knee joint
  - to ensure overlap of anatomy, a physical side marker can be positioned at mid-femur region
collimation
- laterally to the skin margins
- superior to ASIS
- inferior to proximal third of tibia/fibula
orientation
- portrait
detector size
- 30 cm x 43 cm
exposure
- 65-70 kVp
- 8-12mAs
SID
- 100 cm
grid
- yes

Image technical evaluation

greater and lesser trochanters should be superimposed by the femoral neck
a small part of the lesser trochanter is visible medially
anterior and posterior margins of the femoral condyles should be superimposed

Practical points

for orthopedic requests of full femur length in one image, understanding the anatomy of the pelvic girdle and hip joint well can help in positioning the detector diagonally to include as much of the hip joint and its inferior components