Can the position of the vertebral artery be predicted on a lateral view X-ray of the craniovertebral junction? A radiological anatomy study.

Background: The most feared complication while inserting C2 screws is vertebral artery injury. This article proposes predicting the position of the vertebral artery on a true lateral X-ray of the axis vertebra from the background information acquired from the computed tomography (CT) scan utilizing fluoroscopy.

Methods: Spiral CT scans of 33 C2 vertebrae were performed utilizing a 16-slice CT scanner lateral X-rays of C2 were then obtained before and after painting the vertebral artery grooves with barium.