Prevention of vascular injury to the spinal cord incidence of a great posterior radicular artery

This study investigated in 165 cadavers for the presence and morphology of a great posterior radicular artery (GPRA). The spinal cords were examined for the presence of a GPRA macroscopically and by stereomicroscopy, and the spinal segmental level where the GPRA was located and left-right differences were investigated. A GPRA was found to be present in 10 (6.1%) of the 165 cadavers, and a solitary unilateral GPRA was observed on the left or right side of the spinal cord in each of them. While no differences in laterality were identified, the GPRA was most often seen at the level of the spinal segment T11. The mean outer diameter of the GPRA was 0.43 mm. No previous studies have described the GPRA in a Japanese population. In the 10 cadavers in which a GPRA found in this study its most common location was at the level of spinal segment Th11. There was a difference of more than 2 spinal segmental levels between the location of the artery in our study and in a European population, suggesting that the spinal segmental level at which the GPRA is located is 1 or 2 levels higher in the Japanese population.