Height Of Superior And Inferior Endplates Of Cervical Vertebra In Chinese Males And Its Clinical Value

Objective To measure height of superior and inferior endplates in the cervical body of Chinese man and to direct the anterior cervical plate fixation .Methods Separate the specimens from 14 antiseptic cadavers of men at atlantooccipital joint and C7/T1 intervertebral space and photo A-P position radiographs and lateral radiographs conven- tionally. Then clear away soft tissue surrounding the specimens.get rid of 2 vertebra of hyperosteogeny and obtain 82 cervical vertebra. Use the sounding rod at the bottom of vernier caliper to measure them. Meanwhile measure the lateral radiographs and compare or contrast the results previously.Results The height of superior endplates'vertex is indeed low, ranging from 0.48±0.12mm to -0.20±0.49mm and accompanying descending trendance. The height of C5 inferior endplate is max in all of them. The height of it descends toward two sides ranging from 4.82±0.58mm to 3.56±0.71/3.26±0.68mm. Then use t-analysis method to compare the results of specimen with the results of radiographs, P<0.01. So we can draw a conclusion that there are obvious difference between them.Conclusions Superior endplates of cervical vertebra is flat and its best point to fix screws is 6mm apart from the superior border. The distance between the best point adjacent to the inferior endplates tofix screws and inferior border is 7.5mm at C2, 8mm at C3, 8.5mm at C4, 9mm at C5, 8.5mm at C6, 7.5mm at C7. The height of inferior endplates vertex on the lateral radiographs is 1mm lower than it on the specimens.