RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Prevalence of the foramen arcuale of the atlas in a Saudi population
JF Neurosciences Journal
JO Neurosciences (Riyadh)
FD Prince Sultan Military Medical City
SP 345
OP 351
VO 17
IS 4
A1 Baeesa, Saleh S.
A1 Bokhari, Rakan F.
A1 Bajunaid, Khalid M.
A1 Al-Sayyad, Mohammad J.
YR 2012
UL http://nsj.org.sa/content/17/4/345.abstract
AB OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence and morphologic characteristics of the foramen arcuale of the atlas vertebra in the Saudi population and propose a simplified classification system.METHODS: A cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from September 2010 to February 2011. During the 6-month period, 453 CT studies of the cervical spine were evaluated for the presence of different degrees of this anatomic variant using a clinically relevant classification system.RESULTS: We found 52.1% (236 patients) to have no degree of osseous bridging, 31.8% (144 patients) had some degree of incomplete posterior osseous bridging, and 16.1% had the complete form of the foramen arcuale. The anomaly showed a male predilection that only reached statistic significance for those on the left side (p=0.016). Patients with a well-developed variant were older than those without the anomaly, but only by 7.46 years (p=0.034). These anomalies showed a propensity for bilaterality, which is a source for concern (kappa=0.592, approximate significance=0.00).CONCLUSION: Compared to data from other countries, this anomaly has a higher prevalence in our population, indicating that further investigations are needed.