The influence of age, anthropometrics and range of motion on the morphometry of the synovial folds of the lateral atlanto-axial joints: a pilot study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of age, anthropometrics and cervical range of motion upon synovial fold volume. Ten healthy female subjects aged 20-40 years were included in the study. Age, height, body mass, dimensions of the head and neck and cervical range of motion of each subject were measured. Magnetic resonance (MR) images of the cervical spine were acquired; the volume of the ventral and dorsal synovial folds of the right and the left lateral atlanto-axial joints was measured using seed growing and thresholding methods. Using Spearman's correlation coefficient, it was determined that there was no correlation between synovial fold volume and age. Synovial fold volume was positively correlated with subject height and neck length but negatively correlated with body mass, body mass index and the circumference of the head and neck. The relationship between synovial fold volume and range of cervical motion varied with the plane of movement. The ability to image the synovial folds of the lateral atlanto-axial joints using MR imaging to determine their normal morphology provides the basis for investigating synovial fold pathology in patients with neck pain and headache.

Immunohistochemical investigation of nerve fiber presence and morphology in elderly cervical spine meniscoids

“…Cervical spine meniscoids are frequently found to be present in lateral atlantoaxial joints (100% [2,5,10]) and cervical zygapophyseal joints (77%-100% [1,3,4,11]). These structures are composed of adipose tissue, fibrous tissue, or a mix of both adipose and fibrous tissues [3][4][5]8].…”

Synovial folds in equine articular process joints

“…In a human in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study conducted by Webb et al . , the 3‐dimensional appearance of synovial folds in lateral atlanto‐axial joints was modelled. There was an association between the range of motion in the joints and the size of the synovial folds, with the size increasing with increasing range of motion.…”

Cervical spine meniscoids: an update on their morphological characteristics and potential clinical significance

“…At the lateral atlantoaxial joint, mensicoids have been reported as being present at the ventral and dorsal aspects of joints [2,6,14,[16][17][18][19]. Reports of their prevalence in either a dorsal or ventral location within the joint (i.e.…”