A Cadaveric Study of the Morphometry of the Cervical Spinal Canal in Nigerians

Abstract

Morphometry of the cervical spinal canal is of clinical importance in traumatic, degenerative and inflammatory conditions. A small canal diameter has been associated with an increase of injury mainly in athletes who participate in contact or collision sports. Before abnormal spinal morphometry can be determined, it is first necessary to establish normal values for the specific patient population being evaluated. The authors study of 105 anatomical specimen of the cervical spine (70 males, 35 females) was to determine the spectrum of the sagittal diameter of the cervical spinal canal in Nigerians. Normal spinal canal mean for C3 was 17.82mm, C4 17.14mm; C5 17.35mm; C6 17.35mm and 17.42mm in C7 for male specimen while for female specimen was C3 17.45mm, C4 16.40mm; C5 17.21mm, C6 17.13mm and C7 17.38mm. The mean canal-body ratio was 0.82 and 0.91 for males and females respectively. The findings offer valuable information for a symptomatic cervical spinal stenosis and also highlights the importance of normative data of the cervical spinal canal for the population under study.