Abstract
Intervertebral foramen is the doorway of nerve root and it plays an important role of radiculopathy and surgical treatment of intervertebral foramen diseases. The purpose of the study is to obtain three-dimensional (3D) morphological characteristics of lumbar intervertebral foramen and their relationship with age. Pedicle-superior articular process (P-SAP), disc height between adjacent vertebra (DH), pedicle-inferior vertebrae (P-IV), inferior posterior vertebrae-superior articular process (IPV-SAP), and bony boundary area (BBA) were measured in entrance, middle slice, and exit of lumbar intervertebral foramen for 25 males of different age groups. Spinous process to intervertebral foramen entrance (SP-IFE) was measured for 25 males of different age groups. Overall, P-SAP and P-IV decreased and IPV-SAP increased from the entrance to the exit of intervertebral foramen for L3/4-L5S1. DH decreased at entrance slice, middle slice, and exit slice for L3/4-L5S1 with age. Significant difference with aging was found only at the middle slice of L3/4 and L4/5 for P-SAP. And the significant decrease of IPV-SAP was observed at middle slice of L3/4, entrance slice of L4/5 and L5S1, and exit slice of L5S1. SP-IFE is not consistent for all subjects. In addition, the decrease of BBA at L3/4 and L4/5 was observed earlier than at L5S1. The present study described detailed information of intervertebral foramen, which may be of benefit for better understanding of the pathology and surgical planning for intervertebral foramen diseases.
Highlights
The low back pain has been proved the first disable condition cause globally [1], it is an important and costly medical problem that leads to decreased employee health and productivity in the workplace [2]
Radiculopathy is a common cause of low back pain [3], and it may result from compression or irritation of nerve root
This study aimed to use a 3D method to explore the morphological characteristics of intervertebral foramen at lower back in different age groups for males
Summary
The low back pain has been proved the first disable condition cause globally [1], it is an important and costly medical problem that leads to decreased employee health and productivity in the workplace [2]. Radiculopathy is a common cause of low back pain [3], and it may result from compression or irritation of nerve root. Surgical treatment is a reliable and effective way to solve the compression of nerve root [4]. Compared to the traditional surgery approach, the minimally invasive surgery has a lot of advantages such as minimum post-operative pain, early return to work, shorter hospital stay, economic benefits, lesser bleeding [5,6,7]. Though the minimally invasive surgery is superior, due to the operation field is limited, the occurrence rate of hyperalgesia and paresthesia caused by nerve root injury is as high as 5%∼ 15%[8].
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