Question:medium
Which is the first carpal bone to ossify (appear)?
Which is the first carpal bone to ossify (appear)?
Show Hint
Think of the bone in the centre of the wrist - it leads the sequence at about 1 year.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Trapezium
- Capitate
- Pisiform
- Lunate
Show Solution
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Skeletal maturation of the wrist is assessed by watching the order in which carpal ossification centres appear on radiographs.
Step 2: Ossification begins centrally in the wrist. The capitate, lying in the centre of the distal carpal row, is the very first to develop a bony centre during infancy.
Step 3: Reading outward in time after the capitate: hamate, then triquetrum, lunate, the scaphoid-trapezoid pair, trapezium, and finally the pisiform near puberty.
Step 4: Since trapezium, lunate and pisiform all appear much later, only the capitate satisfies being earliest.
\[\boxed{\text{Capitate}}\]
Step 2: Ossification begins centrally in the wrist. The capitate, lying in the centre of the distal carpal row, is the very first to develop a bony centre during infancy.
Step 3: Reading outward in time after the capitate: hamate, then triquetrum, lunate, the scaphoid-trapezoid pair, trapezium, and finally the pisiform near puberty.
Step 4: Since trapezium, lunate and pisiform all appear much later, only the capitate satisfies being earliest.
\[\boxed{\text{Capitate}}\]
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