Anthropometric approach to lumbar vertebral body volumes

To assess the relationship between the maximum volume of lumbar vertebral bodies and patient morphological features. Knowledge of the volume of the vertebral body is useful when performing vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty.

129 patients (18-85 years) were included consecutively over an 8-month period. All had been subject to abdominopelvic CT scans. The weight, height and body mass index (BMI) were known. The volume of each vertebral body was calculated using the formula V = π R (2). H (V = volume, R = radius, H = height). A statistical analysis of the data divided into three groups, men/women, men only and women only, was conducted by calculating the Pearson correlation coefficient.

The volume of the vertebral body increased from L1 to L4, but the volume of the L5 vertebral body was lower than that of L3 and L4 in all three groups. The volumes of the vertebral bodies were greater in men than in women. Calculating the correlation coefficient showed that the variable most correlated with volume was patient's height in both the men/women and women-only groups, while the most correlated variable in the male-only group was weight. Vertebral height was the variable most correlated with overall height in all three groups.

There is a wide variability in the volume of lumbar vertebrae. The volume of the vertebral body appears to vary not only with a person's height but also their weight. The vertebral body seems to expand with weight in men.