Establishment of a Standardized Method Describing Cervical Vertebral Maturation Stages

Abstract

Determination of the maturational status of growing patients requiring treatment for skeletal craniofacial imbalances is essential for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment timing. This study was conducted with the aim of establishing a standardized method for determination of cervical vertebral maturation. This retrospective study was conducted on 394 LCRs chosen with specific inclusion and exclusion criteria from an initial database of 1088 LCRs. An anlysis was performed to determine the concavity depth (in mm), body shape (ratio of width to height in %) and superior wall incliation (angle between posterior and superior borders in degrees) for the lower bodrder of C2 and the body of C3 and C4. The analysis was performed manually by hand tracing, point identification, planes construction and finally measurement of linear and angular measurements. The results showed that the pre-pubertal, pubertal and post-pubertal stages had mean ± SD values for each outcome. The values comparison revealed statistical differences such that every stage was uniqely described in numerical terms. Based on the current study, it may be concluded that an objective method was identified in the staging of CVM. This method can be included as part of cephalometric analysis for determination of maturational status of the individual patient.