The vertebral column is affected by a range of anatomical variants of the body and/or neural arch as well as accessory ossicles. Knowledge of basic vertebral anatomy and ossification is essential for describing and understanding the range of anomalies.
Variant anatomy
Vertebral body
Neural arch
Spinous process
- unfused spinous process
- deviated spinous process
- bifid spinous process (when atypical for the level, e.g. C7)
Accessory ossicles
- accessory ossicle of the anterior arch of the atlas
- Oppenheimer ossicle
- os odontoideum
- persistent ossiculum terminale
- sesamoid ossicles of the nuchal ligament
Associations
Vertebral anomalies can occur with numerous syndromic as well as non-syndromic conditions including: