Measurement of the spinal canal by diagnostic ultrasound

Porter, Richard W.; Wicks, M; Ottewell, D

doi:10.1302/0301-620x.60b4.711793

Cited by 73 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Remarkably, contrary to our initial hypothesis, females show even relatively greater IFW than males, especially at the lumbar levels. This finding is in accordance with earlier reports on the sex-dependent size of spinal structures that enclose neural structures (Eisenstein, 1977;Hasue et al, 1983;Kikuchi et al, 1984;Porter et al, 1978Porter et al, , 1980. Dunn (1912) showed that for rats, females have a bigger nerve root size relative to body weight than males.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Human osseous intervertebral foramen width

Rühli¹,

Müntener²,

Henneberg³

2005

American J Phys Anthropol

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Alterations of the width of the human intervertebral foramen can play a pathophysiological role in low back pain. Osseous dimensions of the human intervertebral foramen are rarely recorded. Therefore, we present reference data obtained from skeletal samples of known lifestyle, population affinity, sex, and age at death. Cervical, thoracic, and lumbar vertebrae of functional transition zones of 71 macroscopically normal spines from early 19th century AD Swiss burial sites were selected. The intervertebral foramen widths (IFW) were analyzed with respect to possible lateralization and the impact of sex, individual age, and stature. Neither a significant side difference nor a correlation of IFW with individual age or stature could be found. Females show somewhat larger IFW than males, especially in the lumbar region. Data comparisons with earlier studies are limited due to methodological differences and possible interpopulational variations. Furthermore, the osseous intervertebral foramen only reveals a glimpse of the clinically relevant in vivo structure. Nevertheless, more focus on the osseous dimensions of the intervertebral foramen will provide baseline data of this important anatomical landmark. These data could also explore the peculiarities of the intervertebral foramen, such as its reverse sex dimorphism.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Human osseous intervertebral foramen width

Rühli¹,

Müntener²,

Henneberg³

2005

American J Phys Anthropol

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“…Our values for each sex are generally similar to those measured by Catalina-Herrera (1987). The lack of a significant sexual dimorphism in foramen magnum size-as found in the current study-is consistent with earlier reports showing an absence of larger male vertebral canal dimensions (Eisenstein, 1977;Porter et al, 1978;Hasue et al, 1983;Kikuchi et al, 1984). Weak sexual dimorphism is probably a result of the fact that the size of the spinal cord may be determined by the number of neural elements in the cord (Fox and Wilczynski, 1986) which in turn depends on the number of motor units in peripheral muscles and sensory nerve endings.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Variability of Human Foramen Magnum Size

Gruber

Henneberg

Böni

et al. 2009

The Anatomical Record

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The foramen magnum is an important landmark of the skull base and is of particular interest for anthropology, anatomy, forensic medicine, and other medical fields. Despite its importance, few osteometric studies of the foramen magnum have been published so far. A total of 110 transverse and 111 sagittal diameters from Central European male and female dry specimens dating from the Pleistocene to modern times were measured, and related to sex, age, stature, ethnicity, and a possible secular trend. Only a moderate positive correlation between the transverse and the sagittal diameter of the foramen magnum was found. Surprisingly, neither sexual dimorphism, individual age-dependency, nor a secular trend was found for either diameter. Furthermore, the relationship between the individual stature and foramen magnum diameters was weak: thus foramen magnum size cannot be used as reliable indicator for stature estimation. Further consideration of possible factors influencing the variability of human foramen magnum size shall be explored in larger and geographically more diverse samples, thus serving forensic, clinical, anatomical, and anthropological interests in this body part. Anat Rec, 292:1713Rec, 292: -1719Rec, 292: , 2009. V V C 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: anthropology; forensic medicine; osteometry; Pleistocene; secular trend; skull baseSpinal osteometry is a versatile and important method in many research fields including anthropology and basic medical sciences (Saillant, 1976;Krag et al., 1988;Schaeffer, 1999;Mitra et al., 2002;Ahern, 2005;Muthukumar et al., 2005). The foramen magnum, as a transition zone between spine and skull, plays an important role as a landmark because of its close relationship to key structures such as the brain and the spinal cord. There is a small heterogeneous group of anthropological and medical papers focusing on the foramen magnum: simple morphometric analysis of foramen magnum dimensions (Sendemir et al., 1994), foramen magnum size as a part of human occipital bone biometry (Olivier, 1975), its size relative to sex (Catalina-Herrera, 1987;Uysal et al., 2005), its relationship to the intra-cranial volume (Acer et al., 2006), its relationship to stature (Röthig, 1971), the use of the foramen magnum as an identification mark for fire victims (Holland, 1989), the inter-and intra-variability of the foramen magnum position in different species (Ahern, 2005), foramen magnum-carotid foramina relationship as a probable species diagnostic mark (Schaeffer, 1999), and the foramen magnum region in relation to surgical approaches (Muthukumar et al., 2005).Despite its anatomical and clinical relevance, there is still a lack of basic osteometric studies. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, no study has ever

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“…to diagnose the spinal stenosis, myelography has been considered necessary (Schatzker & Pennal 1968). In recent years, however, CT-scanning (Quencer et al 1978, Postacchini et al 1980, Ullrich et al 1980) and the pulsed echo ultrasound technique (Porter et al 1978) appear to be of great value in diagnosing a narrow spinal canal. A correlation between EMG-findings and a narrowing of the lumbar canal has also been discussed (Jacobson 1976).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%