[MORPHO-FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF KIMMERLE ANOMALY]

The study material included 105 isolated bone preparations of the atlas, 100 radiographs of the cervical region of the spine, 650 spiral computed tomography (SCT) scans and 224 protocols of duplex ultrasound scanning of extracranial portions of brachiocephalic arteries and transcranial duplex scanning. Kimmerle anomaly was detected in 18% of cases in the bone material, in 17% of the cases of SCT and in 15% of cases during radiological examination. The anomaly more often is unilateral, rarely--bilateral; it may be located medially or laterally, while the vertebral artery canal more frequently is closed, less commonly--open. Among the patients with Kimmerle anomaly, hemodynamically significant asymmetry of blood flow velocity in the vertebral arteries was detected in 78.5% of cases. Thus, the most important method of Kimmerle anomaly detection is SCT with contrast-enhanced artery imaging. However, each of the research methods successively. Each of research methods used consistently allows to obtain information both on anatomical variability of atlas developmental abnormalities (morphological characteristics) and on possible functional disorders, morphological basis of which is Kimmerle anomaly.