Measurements Of Cervical Vertebral Canal In Dried Bones

Introduction – The size and shape of cervical spinal canal is very important in cases of spinal cord or nerve root compression. The normal values in the available literature are mostly from studies in western population. The documented normal values in Indians are very few. This work is designed to measure the midsagittal diameter of cervical spinal canal and to calculate canal/body ratio in the population in and around Jabalpur. Material and method – 100 sets of dried cervical verteae of cadavers of adult age group, stored in the department of Anatomy, NSCB Medical College, jabalpur were taken for the study. Midsagittal diameter of cervical verteal canal (A), anteroposterior diameter of verteal body (B) and Torg‘s ratio (A/B) were calculated. Results – The mean value of midsagittal diameter (in mm) at third, fourth, fth and sixth cervical verteal canal was observed to be 14.38, 14.40, 14.36 and 14.55 respectively. The mean value of Torg‘s ratio at third, fourth, fth and sixth cervical verteal level was observed to be 1.04, 1.02, 1.01 and 1.01.

Quantification of Pediatric Cervical Growth: Anatomical Changes in the Sub-Axial Spine

OBJECTIVE: In order to provide normal values of the pediatric sub-axial cervical spinal canal and vertebral body growth pattern using computed tomographic scans, a total of 318 patients less than 10 years old were included. METHODS: The growth of the vertebral body and canal space was investigated using four different age groups. The Torg ratio (TR) was calculated and all patients were classified into a low TR group and a high TR group according to a cutoff value of 1.0. To account for spinal curvature, the C3-7 angle was measured. RESULTS: Very little axial expansion and growth in height were observed (2.9 mm and 3.4 mm, respectively), and the spinal canal increments (1.8 mm) were much smaller than the dimensions of the vertebral body. The mean TR values were 1.03+/-0.14 at the C3 vertebral level, 1.02+/-0.13 at C4, 1.05+/-0.13 at C5, 1.04+/-0.13 at C6, and 1.02+/-0.12 at C7 in all patients. The mean sub-axial angle (C3-7) was 7.9+/-10.6degrees (range: -17-47degrees). CONCLUSION: The upper sub-axial spinal canal continuously increased in size compared to the lower sub-axial spine after 8 years of age. Considerable decrements in the TR was found after late childhood compared to younger ages. Generally, there were no significant differences between boys and girls in vertical length of the cervical vertebrae. However, the axial dimension of the vertebral body and the spinal canal space varied according to gender.