Quick Facts
Location: Hand.
Bone Type: Sesamoid bone.
Key Features: Palmar and dorsal surfaces, triquetrum articular facet.
Articulates With: Triquetrum bone.
Arterial Supply: Ulnar artery.
Related parts of the anatomy
Key Features & Anatomical Relations
The pisiform bone is one of the eight carpal bones of the hand. It’s pea-shaped and is found in the proximal row of carpal bones. It’s classified as a sesamoid bone and includes the following bony features:
- surfaces: palmar and dorsal surfaces;
- landmark: triquetrum articular facet.
More information regarding these bony features can be found in the Surfaces and Landmarks tabs for this bone.
The pisiform bone is located:
- proximal to the hamate bone;
- distal to the ulna;
- anterior to the triquetrum bone.
It articulates with the triquetrum bone at the pisotriquetral joint.
Ossification
Ossification of the pisiform bone occurs at one ossification center, which appears within the ninth to twelfth years (Standring, 2016). Complete ossification occurs during middle to late adolescence.
Variations
In some individuals, the pisiform bone may be present in a bipartite condition, i.e., divided into two parts (Tubbs, Shoja and Loukas, 2016).
Surface Anatomy
With regard to surface anatomy, the pisiform bone can be palpated proximal to the hypothenar eminence.
List of Clinical Correlates
- Fracture of pisiform bone
References
Standring, S. (2016) Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. Gray's Anatomy Series 41st edn.: Elsevier Limited.
Tubbs, R. S., Shoja, M. M. and Loukas, M. (2016) Bergman's Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation. Wiley.
Learn more about this topic from other Elsevier products
Pisiform Bone
1 The pisiform bone is a sesamoid bone that articulates flat with the triquetral bone but derives all of its stability from the flexor carpi ulnaris tendon, which continues distally into the pisohamate and pisometacarpal ligaments.
