Prevalence of the foramen arcuale of the atlas in a Saudi population.

Objective: To describe the prevalence and morphologic characteristics of the foramen arcuale of the atlas vertebra in the Saudi population and propose a simplified classification system.

Methods: A cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from September 2010 to February 2011. During the 6-month period, 453 CT studies of the cervical spine were evaluated for the presence of different degrees of this anatomic variant using a clinically relevant classification system.

Prevalence of cervical ribs and elongated transverse processes in Saudi Arabia.

Objective: To describe the prevalence of the full spectrum of transverse process elongation and cervical ribs for the first time in over a decade in a Saudi population, trying to assess any changes in the interim.

Methods: A cross-sectional hospital based study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the 3-month period between October and December 2010. The study comprised a radiologic review of 1,000 consecutive chest radiographs of adults from the digital database looking for the presence of cervical ribs and elongated transverse processes.

Fracture of the anterior iliac crest following autogenous bone grafting.

Anterior iliac crest is the most common donor site for anterior cervical spine surgeries. We searched the literature to summarize the reported fractures of the anterior iliac crest following bone graft harvesting for anterior cervical fusion and documented our experience with such complication. In this account, we report 3 new patients with this rare complication of fracture of the anterior iliac crest following bone graft for anterior cervical fusion.