Anatomical evaluation of the groove for the vertebral artery in the axis vertebrae for atlanto-axial transarticular screw fixation technique.

摘要

Anatomical measurements were studied on 40 dry axis vertebrae to determine the suitability of the groove for the vertebral artery for atlanto-axial transarticular screw fixation technique. We measured 13 parameters including three angular and 10 linear dimensions related to the groove of the vertebral artery, pedicle, and pars interarticularis and evaluated 80 measurements for each parameter. All measurements were done after placing a Kischner guide wire through the pedicle. We found that differences between measurements on the left and right sides of each vertebra were nonsignificant. In spite of the variability in measurements such as height, width, and median angle of the pedicle, the decline angle for instrumentation, the depth of the groove for the vertebral artery, and the internal height of the pars interarticularis, all of these had good symmetry. However, there were statistically significant differences between the sides in measurements for both the width (P=0.05) and the angle (P<0.02) of the pedicle allowing instrumentation and they did not show good symmetry. The risk of vertebral artery injury was found to be 22.5% per specimen, or 16.25% per screw inserted because the internal height of the pars interarticularis at point of fixation was