Anatomy and clinical significance of the uncinate process and uncovertebral joint: A comprehensive review

Abstract

This review is intended to re-examine an often overlooked region of the cervical spine as not only an interesting anatomical feature but also a clinically relevant one.

Resection or degeneration of uncovertebral joints altered the segmental kinematics and load-sharing pattern of subaxial cervical spine: A biomechanical investigation using a C2–T1 finite element model

“…The UJs' volume and inclination of clefts were defined with reconstructed coronal slices using an improved method based on a previously published method (Kumaresan et al, 1997;Yoganandan et al, 2001) (Fig 1D). The reference dimensions for the UJ (Hartman, 2014) are shown in Fig. 2B and can be found in Table 2.…”

Clinical anatomy and clinical significance of the cervical intervertebral foramen: a review

“…The intervertebral foramen is located anteriorly to the vertebral canal at an angle of 45 o relative to the coronal plane [10,19]. In other words, the intervertebral foramen is located anteriorly to the vertebral canal at an angle of 45 o relative to the coronal plane [19].…”

“…The intervertebral foramen is located anteriorly to the vertebral canal at an angle of 45 o relative to the coronal plane [10,19]. In other words, the intervertebral foramen is located anteriorly to the vertebral canal at an angle of 45 o relative to the coronal plane [19]. Therefore, the oblique or axial views have greater confidence rates than the sagittal views, in order to evaluate the presence of foraminal stenosis or of a disc herniation [17,25,36,37,44].…”

“…1) is the parent vessel for several segmental medullary vessels, which branch from the medial surface of the vessel [4,18,19,24,47]. If the ascending cervical artery supplies a spinal branch, it occurs at the C3-C4 or C4-C5 foramen, and the spinal branch enters the posterior-inferior aspect of the external intervertebral foraminal opening [24].…”

“…As the nerve roots pass through the intervertebral foramen they are found in the lower third of the foramen [10,19].…”