Morphological characteristics of thoracic vertebrae in children aged from 10 to 12 years with three-dimensional digital reconstruction / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Articular process of joint is an important bony structure to maintain the spinal stability and normal physiological activities. Clinical study found that bilateral articular process asymmetry is also one of the causes of vertebral degeneration, but the existing research mainly focuses on the adult, and give priority to with cervical vertebra and lumbar vertebra. OBJECTIVE:To explore the morphological and developmental characteristics of thoracic facet joints and bony structures of 10 to 12-year-old children and compare with data of adults. METHODS:A total of 30 normal cases aging from 10 to 12 years were admitted into this study. No cases experienced bone destruction, deformity, fractures, or tumors, and spine surgery was not involved in. DICOM 3.0 data of multi-slice spiral CT (0.625-1.25 mm), ranging from T1 to T12, were used for three-dimensional reconstruction, measurement and statistical analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1) Joint width overal trends in“V”. Joint surface height from T1 to T12 increased gradual y with the increase of the operation sequence. (2) The joint thickness from T1 to T12 showed a gradual y increasing trend with the increase of the job sequence;articular process under the joint thickness was gentle. In the left and right sides of the upper and lower joints, joint surface width, height, and thickness did not show significant difference in addition to the significant difference between the individual vertebral body. Joints spacing on the side and there was no significant difference between upper and lower, articular process spacing between sides showed an increasing trend with the increase of operation sequence;upper and lower joints spacing increased with the job sequence, and showed wide“U”shape. (3) These results confirmed that the application of three-dimensional reconstruction techniques can display shape and characteristics of each vertebral body clearly and intuitively and improve measurement accuracy. Width and height of facet joints in 10-12-year-old school children were overal smal er than those of adults. The distance between upper and lower facet joints changed a little. Distance between left and right facet joints increased from T1 to T12, which complies with the growth and development of children.