A morphometric study of the lumbar spinous process in the Chinese population

Our goal was to analyze the anatomical parameters of the lumbar spine spinous processfor an interspinous stabilization device designed for the Chinese population and tooffer an anatomical basis for its clinical application. The posterior lumbar spines(T₁₂-S₁) of 52 adult cadavers were used for measuring thefollowing: distance between two adjacent spinous processes (DB), distance across twoadjacent spinous processes (DA), thickness of the central spinous processes (TC),thickness of the superior margin of the spinous processes (TS), thickness of theinferior margin of the spinous processes (TI), and height of the spinous processes(H). Variance and correlation analyses were conducted for these data, and the datamet the normal distribution and homogeneity of variance. DB decreased gradually fromL_1-2 to L₅-S₁. DA increased fromT₁₂-L₁ to L_2-3 and then decreased fromL_2-3 to L_4-5. The largest H in males was noted atL₃ (25.45±5.96 mm), whereas for females the largest H was noted atL₄ (18.71±4.50 mm). Usually, TS of the adjacent spinous process waslower than TI. Based on the anatomical parameters of the lumbar spinous processesobtained in this study, an “H”-shaped coronal plane (posterior view) was proposed asan interspinous stabilization device for the Chinese population. This study reportsmorphometric data of the lumbar spinous processes in the Chinese population, whichprovides an anatomical basis for future clinical applications.