Schmorl's Nodes and Partial Lumbarization of S1 in European Human Remains of Korean War Casualty Excavated from the Arrowhead Ridge in DMZ

Abstract

The Ministry of National Defense of Agency for KIA Recovery and Identification (MAKRI) launched the Korean War casualty excavation project to retrieve war remains at the Arrowhead Ridge in the DMZ by affecting the mood of peace-building and inter-Korean tension-reducing, and uncovered possible Korean War casualty’s remains. The present case of excavated bones was well-preserved and the rate of preservation was more than 97%. As an identification results of this case, the ethnicity, age, stature was estimated as European, 16~19 years old, 163~169.5 cm respectively. Schmorl’s nodes and partial lumbarization of the sacrum were observed in the anthropological and forensic examination. Multiple Schmorl’s nodes as various sizes were localized in the upper and lower surface of the vertebral endplate from lower thoracic vertebrae (T8~T12) to lumbar vertebrae (L1~L5). A partial lumbarization of S1 was also observed in the sacrum. In this case, we suggested the hypothesis that Schmorl’s node and partial lumbarization of S1 can simultaneously occur even in the young age as a course of functional adaptation in regarding to the morphological features of the constituent elements of the vertebrae. Further studies for the biomechanical mechanism of Schmorl’s node and lumbarization of S1 in various ethnic groups of large population will reveal more about the relationship between the morphological features of the vertebrae and the bony lesions.