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Intervertebral foramen

Foramen between spinal vertebrae

Foramen between spinal vertebrae

FieldValue
NameIntervertebral foramen
Latinforamen intervertebrale (pl. foramina intervertebralia)
Image2Gray95.png
Caption2Sacrum, pelvic surface. (The two columns of four holes are the intervertebral foramina of sacrum, visible but not labeled.)
ImageForaminaintervertebralia.png
CaptionPeculiar thoracic vertebrae. Intervertebral foramina are indicated by arrows.

The intervertebral foramen (also neural foramen) (often abbreviated as IV foramen or IVF) is an opening between (the intervertebral notches of) two pedicles (one above and one below) of adjacent vertebra in the articulated spine. Each intervertebral foramen gives passage to a spinal nerve and spinal blood vessels, and lodges a posterior (dorsal) root ganglion. Cervical, thoracic, and lumbar vertebrae all have intervertebral foramina.

Anatomy

Structure

In the thoracic region and lumbar region, each vertebral foramen is additionally bounded anteriorly by (the inferior portion of) the body of vertebra (particularly in the thoracic region) and adjacent intervertebral disc (particularly in the lumbar region).

In the cervical region, a small part of the body of vertebra inferior to the intervertebral disc also forms the anterior boundary of the IVF (due to the fact that the junction of the pedicle with the body of vertebra is situated somewhat more inferiorly on the body).

Contents

A number of structures pass through the IVF: spinal nerve roots, a recurrent meningeal nerve, radicular arteries (where present), segmental medullary arteries (where present), intervertebral veins, and lymphatic vessels.

The posterior (dorsal) root ganglion is situated within the IVF. The adipose tissue of the spinal epidural space extends into the IVF. The spinal dura mater extends laterally with each departing spinal nerve, reaching into the IVF. Transforaminal ligaments (when present) extend through the IFV.

Clinical significance

Foramina can be occluded by arthritic degenerative changes and space-occupying lesions like tumors, metastases, and spinal disc herniations.

File:Projectional radiograph of cervical foraminal stenosis, annotated.jpg|Projectional radiograph of a man presenting with pain by the nape and left shoulder, showing a stenosis of the left intervertebral foramen of cervical spinal nerve 4 due to age-related degenerative changes, corresponding with the affected dermatome

References

References

  1. "incisura vertebralis".
  2. (2011). "Last's Anatomy". Elsevier Australia.
  3. (October 2016). "Transforaminal Ligaments of the Lumbar Spine: A Comprehensive Review". Cureus.
  4. (2018). "Sobotta Anatomy Textbook: English Edition with Latin Nomenclature". Elsevier.
  5. (1918). "Gray's Anatomy".
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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