Transitional vertebra

Last revised by Calum Worsley on 28 Apr 2023

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Gaillard F, Worsley C, Baba Y, et al. Transitional vertebra. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 06 Dec 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-13623

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-13623

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/13623

rID:

13623

Article created:

28 Apr 2011, Frank Gaillard ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Frank Gaillard had no recorded disclosures.

View Frank Gaillard's current disclosures

Last revised:

28 Apr 2023, Calum Worsley ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Calum Worsley had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Calum Worsley's current disclosures

Revisions:

13 times, by 10 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Musculoskeletal, Spine

Sections:

Anatomy

Tags:

anatomical, variant

Synonyms:

Transitional vertebral body
Transitional vertebrae

A transitional vertebra is one that has indeterminate characteristics and features of vertebrae from adjacent vertebral segments. They occur at the junction between spinal morphological segments:

atlanto-occipital junction
- atlanto-occipital assimilation: complete or partial fusion of C1 and the occiput
- occipital vertebra: an additional bone between C1 and the occiput
cervicothoracic junction
- cervical rib arising from C7
thoracolumbar junction
- lumbar (13^th) rib arising from T13 or L1 (depending on numbering)
lumbosacral junction
- lumbosacral transitional vertebra: most common

Their importance stems both because the altered anatomy can be symptomatic (e.g. cervical rib causing thoracic outlet syndrome) or because they can lead to confusion when describing findings and thus lead to an incorrect level operation.