Despite being commonly affected by degenerative disorders, there are few data on normal thoracic intervertebral disc dimensions. A morphometric analysis of adult thoracic intervertebral discs was, therefore, undertaken.
Archival computed tomography scans of 128 recently deceased individuals (70 males, 58 females, 20-79 years) with no known spinal pathology were analysed to determine thoracic disc morphometry and variations with disc level, sex and age. Reliability was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs).
Anterior and posterior intervertebral disc heights and axial dimensions were significantly greater in men (anterior disc height 4.0 ± 1.4 vs 3.6 ± 1.3 mm; posterior disc height 3.6 ± 0.90 vs 3.4 ± 0.93 mm; p < 0.01). Disc heights and axial dimensions at T4-5 were similar or smaller than at T2-3, but thereafter increased caudally (mean anterior disc height T4-5 and T10-11, 2.7 ± 0.7 and 5.4 ± 1.2 mm, respectively, in men; 2.6 ± 0.8 and 5.1 ± 1.3 mm, respectively, in women; p < 0.05). Except at T2-3, anterior disc height decreased with advancing age and anteroposterior and transverse disc dimensions increased; posterior and middle disc heights and indices of disc shape showed no consistent statistically significant changes. Most parameters showed substantial to almost perfect agreement for intra- and inter-rater reliability.
Thoracic disc morphometry varies significantly and consistently with disc level, sex and age. This study provides unique reference data on adult thoracic intervertebral disc morphometry, which may be useful when interpreting pathological changes and for future biomechanical and functional studies.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 10 April 2015.
All research outputs
#20,268,102
of 22,799,071 outputs
Outputs from European Spine Journal
#3,660
of 4,626 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#223,701
of 264,708 outputs
Outputs of similar age from European Spine Journal
#65
of 174 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,799,071 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,626 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.0. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 264,708 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 174 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
