Morphometric Evaluation of the Thoracic Vertebral Pedicle: A Cadaveric Study

The present study was conducted to provide base line data of the thoracic pedicle using macerated vertebrae bones. One hundred and eighty thoracic vertebrae were studied by direct measurements for linear dimensions of the Mid- Pedicle Width, Pedicle Length, and Pedicle Height in 15 human cadavers using a digital Vernier calliper with accuracy of 0.05mm. SPPSS ANOVA and Turkey Post Hoc multiple comparison tests were used to determine the significance of observed difference between the measured vertebrae dimensions, while Pearson's correlation analysis was used to determine the strength of the relationship. The significance level was set at 95%. Respectively, the highest and lowest mean values; for pedicle length (PL) was found at T12 (17.61±2.4mm) and T3 (14.59±2.09mm) respectively, at T12 (17.34±1.59mm) and T1 (9.78±0.99mm) respectively for pedicle height (PH); and at T12 (T12=11.26±2.78mm) and T4 (5.84±1.17mm) respectively for the mid-pedicle width (MPW). T1 and T12 vertebrae were observed to be significantly different from other vertebrae (P

Key Words: Cadavers, Dimensions, Morphometry, Spine, Thoracic pedicles