Totlis Trifon, Sammer Andreas, Piagkou Maria, Natsis Konstantinos, Emfietzis Panagiotis-Konstantinos, Karageorgos Filippos, Tsakotos George, Triantafyllou George, Feigl Georg
Department of Anatomy and Surgical Anatomy, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Österreichische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Manuelle Medizin, Graz, Austria.
Anat Cell Biol. 2024 Sep 30;57(3):378-383. doi: 10.5115/acb.24.061. Epub 2024 Jun 25.
The 7th cervical vertebra (C7) is described as having the most prominent spinous process (SP) and is characterized as the "vertebra prominens" (VP) of the cervical spine in anatomy textbooks. The VP is an important anatomical landmark of the neck for clinical examination and therapeutic intervention. The present study identifies the level of the most prominent SP of the cervical and uppermost thoracic vertebrae in a cadaveric cohort. Thirty-nine (23 female and 16 male) cadavers of a mean age of 77.5 years were investigated in a prone position and a certain cervical kyphotic bending. The most prominent SP, at the base of the neck, was palpated and marked with a wedging nail into the SP of the vertebra. The cervical region was dissected, and a blind investigator examined whether the nail was placed into the SP of C7 or the SP of another upper or lower vertebra. In 19 out of 39 cadavers (48.7%), the C7 was identified as the VP (typical anatomy), followed by the C6 (in 14 cadavers, 35.9%), C5 (in 4 cadavers, 10.3%). In 2 cadavers (5.1%) the first thoracic vertebra was identified as having the most prominent SP. Although C7 is described as the VP, in the present study the SP of C7 was the most prominent in less than 50%. The high variable projection level of the most prominent SP of the cervical vertebra holds great clinical significance for spine examination, neck surgery, and spinal anesthesia.
第七颈椎（C7）被描述为具有最突出的棘突（SP），在解剖学教科书中被视为颈椎的“隆椎”（VP）。隆椎是颈部临床检查和治疗干预的重要解剖标志。本研究确定了尸体队列中颈椎和最上方胸椎最突出棘突的水平。对39具平均年龄为77.5岁的尸体（23具女性和16具男性）进行了俯卧位和一定颈椎后凸弯曲状态下的研究。在颈部底部触诊到最突出的棘突，并用楔形钉标记到该椎体的棘突上。解剖颈部区域，由一名盲法研究者检查钉子是否置于C7的棘突或其他上、下椎体的棘突上。在39具尸体中有19具（48.7%），C7被确定为隆椎（典型解剖结构），其次是C6（14具尸体，35.9%），C5（4具尸体，10.3%）。在2具尸体（5.1%）中，第一胸椎被确定为具有最突出的棘突。尽管C7被描述为隆椎，但在本研究中，C7的棘突最突出的情况不到50%。颈椎最突出棘突的高度可变投影水平在脊柱检查、颈部手术和脊髓麻醉方面具有重大临床意义。
