Aims and objectives
The atlas stands as the first cervical vertebra,
being articulated with the occipital bone above and the axis vertebra below.
It has the shape of a ring and 2 arches.
The anterior arch is short and articulates with the dens of the axis vertebra,
while the posterior arch bears a groove on its surface for the vertebral artery and the dorsal ramus of the first cervical spine nerve.
The vertebra has 2 transverse processes,
which form a foramen transversarium,
crossed by the vertebral artery and...
Methods and materials
Our present longitudinal,
retrospective study was carried out over a period of a year - 2012 - in the Radiology Department of the Integrated Ambulatory Service Care of the Infectious Disease Clinic in Cluj - Napoca.
The protocol was approvedby the institutional review board of our institution.
We included 462 patients,
276 women,
186 men,
with ages between 4 and 90 years,
who underwent cervical spine radiographs for other symptoms than due to this variant.
The main symptoms in the adult population who referred to...
Results
Ponticulus posticus was observed in 12.55% of the patients,
with a slight female(53.44%)predominance.
Incomplete bony outgrow was present in 51.72% of the cases.
The prevalence of incomplete ponticulus posticus was higher in female patients (63.33%).
When ossificationwas incomplete,
the defect was mostlyfound at the anterior margin (70%),
although incomplete ossification maybe found at any point in the arch.
The rest of 48.27% of the patients had a complete arch,
with a male domination (57.14%).
Bilateral complete foramen was seen in 10.34% of the cases,
4...
Conclusion
Some studies analyzed the presence of ponticulus posticus on anatomical specimens,
such as dry vertebrae (4),
(12),
(18),
(19).
Other authors discovered this variant on cephalograms (13),
(20),
or lateral cervical spine radiographs (6),
(10),
(16),
like we did in our study.
In our study,
the incidence of ponticulus posticus was 12.55%,
whereas in other carried studies it varied between 4.3% and 33.3%.
(13,15)
The closest results regarding incidence were obtained by Pyo and Lowman,
who found an incidence of 12.67%.
(20)
Our results revealed...
References
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Sharma V,
Sengupta J.Cervical vertebral anomalies: incidental findings on lateral cephalograms.Angle Orthod2008;78:176–180.
2) Farman AG,
Escobar V.Radiographic appearance of the cervical vertebrae in normal and abnormal development.Br J Oral Surg1982;20:264–74.
3) Wight S,
Osborne N,
Breen AC.Incidence of ponticulus posterior of the atlas in migraine and cervicogenic headache.J Manipulative Physiol Ther1999;22:15–20.
4) Lamberty BGH,
Zivanovic S.The retroarticular vertebral artery ring of the atlas and its significance.Acta Anatomica1973;85:113–122.
5)White AA,
Panjabi MM.Clinical biomechanics of the spine(2nd edn).
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins,
1978.
6)...
