Variations in Foramen Transversarium in Typical Cervical Vertebra/Variaciones del Foramen transverso en una Vertebra Cervical Tipica

In literature were described variations in foramen transversarium in cervical vertebrae, as well as their clinical importance, and the information about them boils down to the individual case reports or population morphological studies. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of morphological characteristics of the transverse openings on vertebrae of the cervical region. The study was performed on 60 typical vertebrae that are part of the collection of the Department of Anatomy in Nis. The characteristics of permanent openings were measured and accessory foramina were recorded. It was found that the diameter of the openings on the left side was 5.595[+ or -]0.92 x 5.390[+ or -]1.507 mm, and on the right 5.766[+ or -]1.201 x 6.101[+ or -]1.401 mm. Unilateral completely separated accessory foramina were recorded in 10.17% of cases, dominant on the left side, and incompletely separated cases in 5.09%. The research has demonstrated a relatively high incidence of accessory foramina and deviations from circular shaped openings. KEY WORDS: Cervical vertebrae; Foramen transversarium; Variations; Morphometry. En la literatura se describen variaciones en el foramen transverso de las vertebras cervicales, asi como su importancia clinica, y la informacion sobre ellas se reduce a informes de casos individuales o estudios morfologicos poblacionales. El objetivo de este trabajo fue contribuir al conocimiento de las caracteristicas morfologicas de los foramenes transversos de las vertebras cervicales. El estudio se realizo en 60 vertebras tipicas que forman parte de la coleccion del Departamento de Anatomia de Nis. Se midieron las caracteristicas de los foramenes constantes y se registraron los foramenes accesorios. Se encontro que el diametro de los foramenes del lado izquierdo era de 5,595[+ or -]0,92 x 5,390[+ or -]1,507 mm, y del derecho de 5,766[+ or -]1,201 x 6,101[+ or -]1,401 mm. Se registraron foramenes accesorios unilaterales completamente separados en el 10,17% de los casos, dominantes en el lado izquierdo y casos incompletamente separados en el 5,09%. La investigacion ha demostrado una incidencia relativamente alta de foramenes accesorios y desviaciones de forma circular. PALABRAS CLAVE: Vertebras cervicales; Foramen transverso; Variaciones; Morfometria.