Morphometric Measurements of Cervical Spine using Computed Tomography

The cervical spine antomy exhibits wide variations. For cervical spine pathologies which require surgical treatment, the prior knowledge of these anatomic variations would reduce the surgical complications. The aim of the study is to perform CT based measurements of cervical transverse foramen and spinal canal in indian population which would be useful in providing road map and guidance for surgical interventions of cervical spine. This is a retrospective study. A total of 73 patients (49 males, 24 females, age range: 18-75 years) indicated for CT cervical spine from June 2018 to June 2019 were included. The sagittal spinal canal Diameter (dSSC), sagittal (TFs) and transversr diameters (TFt) of transverse foramen, distance between transverse foramen and spinal canal (dTF-SC) were measured at C1-C7 levels. We found that significant difference in sagittal spinal canal diameters at all the levels of cervical spine (C1-C7) between males and females (p<0.01). Our study also found significant difference in sagittal (TFs) and transverse (TFs) diameters of transverse foramen at all cervical levels in males and females between right and left side (p<0.01). Significant difference were noted for distance between transverse foramen and spinal canal (dTF SC) at all the levels of cervical spine in males and females between right and left side (p<0.01). From our study we conclude that a thorough comprehension of cervical anatomy with CT- based measurements help in preoperative planning and reduce the complications in surgical interventions. Our study noticed significant reduction in distance between transverse foramen and spinal canal (dTF-SC) in both males and females on left side. Hence, care must be taken while performing surgical procedures of cervical spine on the left side in males and females at all cervical levels.