Age-Related Changes of Lumbar Vertebral Body Morphometry

This study was designed to provide a large, accurate database of vertebral body size, focus?ing on age-related changes along the lumbar spine, and to look for size variations with relation to sex. All lumbar vertebrae (L1-L5) of 212 individuals (0-90 years) were dissected and analyzed by age and sex. A digital caliper was used to measure all vertebral body heights, lengths, and widths. This study showed that the vertebral body size was independent of sex but correlated with the individuals’ age. The most intensive growth of vertebral body sizes was found in children 1-7 year-old and the second peak of growth was observed in teenagers 13-16 year-old. Anterior and posterior vertebral body heights were almost identical for all lumbar vertebrae in newborns and continuously increased through children, teenagers and adult age groups, then slightly decreased in senior persons due to osteopenia. The posterior vertebral body height was smaller than the anterior vertebral body height at L2 through L5 indicating posterior wedging with a peak at L3-L4 (except individuals of the 1st year of postnatal life). The superior vertebral body lengths constantly increased from L1 to L5 and inferior lengths - from L1 to L4, slightly decreased at L5. No significant difference was found between the superior and inferior vertebral body lengths of the same vertebra (P > 0.05). The superior vertebral body width typically was smaller than inferior widths of the same vertebra and superior width of adjacent inferior vertebra, resulting in a trapezoidal vertebral body shape in the lumbar spine. As result of this research, a comprehensive database of vertebral body dimensions was generated from direct measurements of 1060 lumbar vertebrae. These results are invaluable in establishing an anthropometric model of the human lumbar spine, and provide useful data for spinal surgery and spinal implants design. In addition this information has important implications for workspace specifications for a robot-assisted surgery system.