European Journal of Anatomy

Official Journal of The Spanish Society of Anatomy
Cover Volume 19 - Number 3
Eur J Anat, 19 (3): 277-286 (2015)

Morphometric assessment of the lumbar pedicle isthmus by reformatted CT: variations according to age and gender

Rodolfo Morales-Avalos1, Oscar U. Galindo-Aguilar1, Jorge E. Martínez-García2, Ricardo Pinales-Razo2, Guillermo Elizondo-Riojas2, Félix Vílchez-Cavazos3, Eliud E. Villarreal-Silva1, Violeta Ruiz-Herrera1, Santos Guzmán-López1, Rodrigo E. Elizondo-Omaña1

1Anatomy Research Group (GIA), Department of Human Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Autonóma de Nuevo León (UANL), Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, 2Department of Radiology and Imaging, University Hospital "Dr. José Eleuterio González", Universidad Autonóma de Nuevo León (UANL), Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, 3Orthopedics and Traumatology Service, University Hospital "Dr. José Eleuterio González", Universidad Autonóma de Nuevo León (UANL), Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico

ABSTRACT This work aims to determine the morphometric characteristics of the lumbar pedicle isthmus with surgical relevance to transpedicular procedures using reformatted computed tomography (CT) and to determine the possible variations in the diameters between genders and age groups. Observational, cross-sectional, descriptive and comparative anatomical studies were carried out. We analyzed 200 CT studies of Mexican patients of known age and gender. The images were analyzed using specialized software for reformatting that could determine cortical and endosteal diameters and cortical thickness at the level of the pedicle isthmus. The mean and standard deviation for each measurement parameter were determined, and a parametric correlation test was performed to compare the variations between the age groups of the same gender. Significant differences in the pedicle diameters between men and women were evident for most of the age groups (p <0.05). The cortical and endosteal pedicle width showed an increase from L1 to L5; the reverse was observed for cortical and endosteal pedicle height. No significant differences were evident with respect to age in the horizontal and vertical diameters for most of the generated study groups. The lateral cortical bone had the lowest scores of the study. The mean values of the morphometric characteristics of the pedicle isthmus obtained in this study will be helpful to conclusively define the pedicle dimensions and to improve the transpedicular approach to the lumbar spine.

Keywords: Reformatted CT, Morphometry, Lumbar pedicle, Age, Gender, Isthmus

European Journal of anatomy
ISSN 2340-311X (Online)