Lunate at a glance
- What it is
- A crescent-shaped carpal bone in the middle of the proximal row.
- Location
- Lies between the scaphoid and triquetrum, articulating with the radius proximally and the capitate distally.
- Function
- Transmits forces from the hand to the radius at the wrist.
- Body system
- Skeletal · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA24438 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- It is the carpal bone most often dislocated.
- Its proximal surface articulates with the radius and the articular disc of the distal radio-ulnar joint, forming part of the wrist joint.
Clinical relevance
Avascular necrosis of the lunate is known as Kienböck disease; dislocation can compress the median nerve in the carpal tunnel.
Structures next to the lunate
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Dorsal carpal branch of ulnar artery · cardiovascular
- Triquetral · skeletal
- Hamate · skeletal
- Capitate · skeletal
- Scaphoid · skeletal
- Pisiform · skeletal
- Superficial palmar arterial arch · cardiovascular
- Deep palmar arch · cardiovascular
- Trapezoid · skeletal
- Dorsal carpal branch of radial artery · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Lunate (FMA24438). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §7.1 Divisions of the Skeletal System. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.