FIFTH LUMBAR VERTEBRA ASSOCIATED WITH ABSENCE OF SPINOUS PROCESS, LAMINAE AND INFERIOR ARTICULAR PROCESSES. ? CASE REPORT

Background: The vertebral disorders are the ones which lead to disability and lot of health problems. Since the lumbar part of the vertebral column is the main weight bearing and weight transmitting region, if there is a defective development, the area for muscle attachment and the strong bony structure for the transmission of weight would be missing leading to instability at an early age. In the present case dry and processed fifth lumbar vertebra, of unknown sex which presented the features with absence of spinous process, laminae and the inferior articular processes on both sides which were obtained for teaching the medical undergraduate students in M.S.Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore. There was absence of spinous process, laminae and the inferior articular processes of fifth lumbar vertebra leading to a wide spina bifida with absence of laminae, inferior articular processes on both sides and spinous process of fifth lumbar vertebra which could be a developmental anomaly.