Bifurcation of long tubular bones.

Five cases of bifurcation of long tubular bones, 2 on the lower and 3 the upper extremity, are described. In all cases they were accompanied by severe adjacent skeletal defects. If the proximal part of the bone was bifurcated the skeletal defect was observed proximally from this anomaly, if the distal bone end was forked than bones were missing distally from the bifurcation. In some early observations and a unique case with double epiphysis the shape of the anomalous branches of the bifurcation supported the theory of ectopic bone formation.