Radiological and anatomical evaluation of the cervical spinal cord, spinal canal, and intervertebral disc morphometry in healthy adults

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the normal values of the cervical spinal cord, spinal canal, and intervertebral disc morphometry of healthy subjects in this study Materials and Methods: Cervical magnetic resonance imaging of 83 healthy subjects were examined retrospectively. The anterior and posterior height of each cervical vertebra body, anterior and posterior height of each intervertebral disc between C3-T1, and spinal canal and cord diameters were measured. Additionally, the height ratios of the cervical vertebra body and intervertebral disc were calculated. Results: There was no significant difference between genders in spinal cord diameters from C1 to C7, whereas there was a significant difference between genders in spinal canal diameters from C1 to C4. There were significant differences between genders in terms of anterior and posterior vertebral body height from C3 to C7 level. Moreover, significant differences between genders in terms of anterior and posterior intervertebral height from C3-4 to C7-T1 level (except C6-7 intervertebral anterior height) were found. Conclusion: We would like to stress that the cervical region is a clinically important structure because of its location, surgical importance, its exposure to a large number of injuries, Gender plays the most important role in spinal canal morphometry, following vertebral