Variations of cervical vertebrae transverse foramen

Abstract

Introduction Cervical vertebrae are unique because of their transverse foramen (TF). Sympathetic nerves, vertebral veins and vertebral arteries rise through them. It is very important to look at the vertebral artery (VA) and its’ branches which supplies blood to the human brain. The pathway of the VA determines the area of TF. The wider VA is, the larger TF we get (1). The studies has shown that the diameters of TF varies among C1-C6. Starting from the entrance at the C6 to TF (2) and rising up to the C the area of each cervical vertebrae TF becomes bigger (3). Furthermore, the studies have shown that the area of each cervical vertebrae is greater on the left side than on the right side which means more intensive blood flow in the left VA (3). Moreover, anatomical structures that pass through TFs may influence unusual genesis of TF (e.g. on one side of the cervical vertebrae can be found two TFs, TFs may also be duplicated, etc.).(4). Therefore, the knowledge of cervical vertebra transverse foramen (TF) anatomical variations has importance for clinical anatomy of vertebral artery. Aim To evaluate the transverse foramen size and shape variations of cervical vertebrae and their relationship between the right and left transverse foramen and cervical size itself. Objectives 1. To evaluate the area of TFs in three different groups: C1, C2 and C3-C6. 2. Compare the results between the right TFs and the left TFs. 3. To determine the correlation between the area of cervical body and TF on the right and on left side in C3-C6 group. 4. To determine the most frequent TFs shape variations. Methods This study included 67 cervical vertebrae from Lithuania University of Health Sciences Institute of Anatomy which were investigated using KLONK Image Measurement Software, KLONK Denmark. We measured 10 cervical vertebrae in C1 group, 24 in C2 group and 33 in C3-C7 group. We measured transverse foramen area using images of each[...].