Extent and characteristic of relationships in canal dimension and canal body ratio between cervical and lumbar spine

Jung-Hee Lee,Kyung-Chung Kang,Ki-Tack Kim,Tae-Soo Chang,Yong-Chan Kim

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-98038-0

Jung-Hee Lee, Kyung-Chung Kang + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-98038-0

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Abstract

A known prevalence of concurrent cervical and lumbar spinal stenosis was shown to be 5–25%, but there is a lack of evidence regarding direct relationships in canal dimension and canal-body ratio between cervical and lumbar spine. Total 247 patients (mean age: 61 years, male: 135) with cervical and lumbar computed tomography scans were retrospectively reviewed. Midsagittal vertebral body and canal diameters in reconstructed images were measured at all cervical and lumbar vertebrae, and canal-body ratios were calculated. The canal diameter and ratio were also compared according to the gender and age, and correlation analysis was performed for each value. There were significant correlations between cervical (C3–C7) and lumbar (L1–L5) canal dimension (p < 0.001). C5 canal diameter was most significantly correlated with L4 canal diameter (r = 0.435, p < 0.001). Cervical canal-body ratios (C3–C7) were also correlated with those of lumbar spine (L1–L5) (p < 0.001). The canal-body ratio of C3 was most highly correlated with L3 (r = 0.477, p < 0.001). Meanwhile, mean canal-body ratios of C3 and L3 were significantly smaller in male patients than female (p = 0.038 and p < 0.001) and patient’s age was inversely correlated with C5 canal diameter (r = − 0.223, p < 0.001) and C3 canal-body ratio (r = − 0.224, p < 0.001). Spinal canal dimension and canal-body ratio have moderate degrees of correlations between cervical and lumbar spine and the elderly male patients show the tendency of small canal diameter and canal-body ratio. This relationship of cervical and lumbar spine can be an important evidence to explain to the patients.

Highlights

A known prevalence of concurrent cervical and lumbar spinal stenosis was shown to be 5–25%, but there is a lack of evidence regarding direct relationships in canal dimension and canal-body ratio between cervical and lumbar spine
Congenital spinal stenosis can be considered as if it were of less clinical importance, because spinal canal stenosis usually occurs in the intervertebral disc level
Similar to the cervical vertebrae, lumbar vertebral body diameters are significantly larger in L3-L5 than those of L1-L2 (p < 0.001), but lumbar canal diameters are similar in L1-L5 vertebrae

Summary

Introduction

A known prevalence of concurrent cervical and lumbar spinal stenosis was shown to be 5–25%, but there is a lack of evidence regarding direct relationships in canal dimension and canal-body ratio between cervical and lumbar spine. Spinal canal dimension and canal-body ratio have moderate degrees of correlations between cervical and lumbar spine and the elderly male patients show the tendency of small canal diameter and canal-body ratio. This relationship of cervical and lumbar spine can be an important evidence to explain to the patients. Bajwa et al.[4] and Lee et al.[9] proved that congenital stenosis of the cervical spine was associated with congenital stenosis of the lumbar spine, using adult skeletal specimens They reported that about 15–30 percentage of patients showed combined cervical and lumbar spinal stenosis, they did not show extent of the relationships in canal dimension and canal-body ratio between cervical and lumbar spine and special features regarding their relationships. Canal-body ratio between cervical and lumbar spine and to evaluate the characteristics according to the patients’ age and gender, using cervical and lumbar computed tomography (CT) scans

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