Pseudofractures of the cervical vertebral body

✍ Scribed by Richard H. Daffner; Ziad L. Deeb; William E. Rothfus

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 1017 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0364-2348
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00349818

✦ Synopsis

A lucency traversing obliquely across the inferior-posterior aspect of cervical vertebral bodies may be a normal variant due to osteophytes of the uncinate processes or transverse processes with a resultant Mach band phenomenon. This could be misinterpreted as a fracture of the vertebral body in a patient with a history of cervical injury. A review of normal lateral cervical vertebral films obtained on patients with no traumatic history showed this phenomenon to occur in 27% of adults. It was not observed in children. The proper interpretation is easily made when one considers the location and the fact that a cervical fracture does not occur in such a location as an isolated event.