Merbs C F
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA.
Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1995 Nov 1;20(21):2328-34. doi: 10.1097/00007632-199511000-00011.
Skeletons of ancient Canadian Eskimos subjected to arctic weathering presented an unusual opportunity for direct observation of all stages of spondylolysis.
To explore early stages of incomplete lysis, a phenomenon difficult to observe radiographically.
Although lumbar spondylolysis most often appears to be a stress fracture that may proceed to complete separation, its early stages have been difficult to visualize.
Vertebrae were examined for even minute lytic defects in the general region of pars interarticularis and the results were correlated with age at death.
Spondylolysis was found in 51 individuals, with 110 separate sites (sides) affected. At 34 of these sites, all but two in adolescents or young adults, the lysis was incomplete. Incomplete lysis affected the superior margin of the neural arch more often than the inferior margin, and the right side more often than the left.
Spondylolysis first became recognizable as incomplete stress fractures during adolescence, with most progressing to complete lysis in young adulthood. New fractures continued to develop in young adults, but most healed by middle adulthood. After 45 years of age, the overall frequency of spondylolysis declined, indicating that even complete defects occasionally healed.
古代加拿大爱斯基摩人的骨骼经受北极风化作用，为直接观察椎弓峡部裂的各个阶段提供了一个不同寻常的机会。
探讨不完全裂解的早期阶段，这是一种难以通过影像学观察到的现象。
尽管腰椎椎弓峡部裂通常表现为应力性骨折，可能会发展为完全分离，但其早期阶段难以显现。
检查椎骨关节突间区域是否存在微小的裂解缺陷，并将结果与死亡年龄相关联。
在51名个体中发现了椎弓峡部裂，共110个部位（侧）受影响。在这些部位中的34个，除了青少年或年轻成年人中的两个部位外，裂解均不完全。不完全裂解更常影响神经弓的上缘而非下缘，且右侧比左侧更常受累。
椎弓峡部裂在青春期首先表现为不完全应力性骨折，大多数在成年早期发展为完全裂解。新的骨折在年轻成年人中继续出现，但大多数在中年时愈合。45岁以后，椎弓峡部裂的总体发生率下降，表明即使是完全缺损偶尔也会愈合。
