Helical CT three-dimensional reconstruction for inferior cervical zygapophyseal joint and its clinic meaning

English Keywords:Cervical spine  Zygapophyseal joints  Articular facets  Three-dimensional measurement

English Abstract:

  【Abstract】 Objective：Ｔo study the three-dimensional quantitative morphology as well as the orientation of cervical zygapophyseal joint and their clinical significances.Method：The cervical zygapophyseal joints of 60 normal volunteers were scanned using spiral CT and reconstructed three-dimensionally.The shapes，curvatures and angulations of these joints were observed and measured in the cross-sectional，sagittal and coronal planes respectively.Result：At the cross-sectional plane，the superior facet joint of C3 and the inferior facet joint of C7 presented with face-type frequently.The C-shape articular surfaces in C3，C4，C5 showed no statistic significance.The angles of the articular facet orientation at C3/4，C4/5，C5/6，C6/7 and C7/T1 were 91.98°±9.92°，96.64°±9.01°，99.46°±7.66°，94.20°±8.72°　and　94.83°±10.88° respectively，with the angles of C4/5 and C5/6 significantly larger than others（P<0.05）.At coronal plane，ellipsetype occured more frequently on C6/7，while roundtype occured more frequently on C2/3 and C3/4.At sagittal plane，the angulations from C3~C7 were 52.09°±6.28°，48.14°±4.75°，45.81°±4.07°，55.65°±4.15°　and　58.32°±5.77°　respectively，with the angles of C3，C6 and C7　significantly larger than C5（P<0.05）.Conclusion：The cervical zygapophyseal joints differ in morphology.In the cross-sectional plane，the orientations of C3-C7 superior facet joint change from midline to lateral，and adapt to thoracic facet joint；while in sagittal plane，facet joint angles from C3-C7 are acute，and distribute on the center of C5.