ABSTRACT
Introduction: The lumbosacral spine is the region of transition from the appendicular to the axial skeleton.Accidents, degenerative conditions, congenital defects and neoplastic metastases often affect the lumbar region.Low back pain resulting from lumbar canal stenosis is one of the major complaints in young to adult population.Apart from that lumbar vertebrae morphometry is required in many surgical as well as anaesthetic procedures.Aims and objectives: The present study was undertaken to determine the morphometry of human cadavericlumbar vertebrae and to compare findings with other authors and forming a baseline data in relation to variouslumbar canal pathologies that can be of help to the medical and surgical experts.Materials and methods: Dried lumbar vertebrae were obtained from the Department of Anatomy of RegionalInstitute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, India. Vertebrae belonging to same set and without any external deformitywere chosen and separated into typical and atypical ones. Measurement of Midsaggital diameter, Interpediculardistance, and Anteroposterior diameter of lateral recess was done using digital vernier calliper.Observations and Results: The study showed increase in all the diameters from L1 to L5 with a narrowing in allcases at L3 level. Therefore, L3 remains the transition point in all the measurements and thus one of the possiblesites for nerve root compression due to canal stenosis, which is one of the major causes of low back pain.Conclusion: The present data forms a baseline of adult lumbar vertebral morphology and is useful source ofinformation to surgeons, physicians and anatomists. It is also helpful for the screw and implant manufacturers.Further study with sex and ethnic consideration can generate forensic and anthropological data.KEY WORDS: Lumbar vertebrae, Lumbar canal stenosis, Morphometry, Midsaggital diameter, Interpediculardistance, Lateral recess diameter.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: It has been suggested that reduced inter-pedicular distance is one of the cause of primary narrowingof the spinal canal may lead to low back pain.Transpedicular approaches are being widely used in many surgeriessuch as bone biopsy, bone grafting, Pedicle screw fixation, vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty. The morphometricdata of lumbar vertebra from Udaipur district i.e. in southern Rajasthan is to the best of our knowledge, virtuallyunexplored so we under took this study.Aims and objectives: The present study aims at determining the morphometric norms of Pedicle of the lumbarvertebra in Udaipur zone measured in dried bone. In this study the following measurements on Pedicle of lumbarvertebra are taken i.e. pedicle height, pedicle width and Interpedicular distance.Materials and methods: The present study was done on the 110 dry adult human lumbar vertebrae from variousmedical colleges of Udaipur. The morphometrical data of the Pedicle of human lumbar vertebrae were measuredand analysed. Digital vernier calliper was used to measure the morphometric data.Result and discussion: The pedicle height of Pedicle decreased from L1 to L5 except in L2 and width of Pedicleincreased from L1 to L5. Interpedicular distanced gradually increased from L1 to L5.
ABSTRACT
Pathological changes can occur in the diameters of the lumbar spinal canal. Therefore, assessing the canal size an important diagnostic procedure. Two hundred plain anterioposterior radiographs of the lumbar spine were examined. The sample consisted of 100 males and 100 females. The transverse diameter of the bony spinal canal (interpedicular distance), which was measured as the minimum distance between the medial surfaces of the pedicles of a given vertebra, was measured. In addition, the transverse diameter of the vertebral body, which was measured as the minimum distance across the waist of the vertebra, was measured. The distances were measured to the nearest one tenth of a millimetere using a Vernier caliper. At all levels (L1 - L5) the transverse diameters of the lumbar spinal canal were approximately 1 - 1.5 mm higher in males than in females. The intersegmental differences increased proximodistally, in both sexes. The ratio of the transverse diameter canal to the width of the vertebra ranged from 0.55 to 0.60 mm in both sexes. The distribution of the different lumbar canal types were 47% A, 42% B, 11% C. Additionally, subtypes were determined and classified.