Surgical anatomy of the pelvis, sacrum, and lumbar spine relevant to spinal surgery

Abstract

The key to uncomplicated spinal surgery relies on the perfect knowledge of spinal anatomy. The following chapter will review applied lumbar, sacral, and pelvic anatomy pertinent to all aspect of lumbo-sacral spinal surgery. Our objective is to provide to the spinal surgeon the relevant spinal anatomy required to undertake spinal surgery. An example of such applied anatomy is the ability of identifying the intersection of the mid-transverse process and the mammillary processes, coupled with the knowledge that the orientation of the pedicles converge in an incremental fashion by 5° per level from T12 (0° neutral) to L5 (25°), thus allowing one to safely proceed to instrument the lumbar spine with pedicle screws.