500 lumbosacral plain x-ray injured patients and 1000 myelography of patients suffering
from low back pain and nerve root sign were reviewed to evaluate the rate of transitional
lumbosacral vertebra. This anomaly appeared in 4.6% in the normal population. The
rate of the transitional vertebra in patients with nerve root syndrome was double
(8.4%) whereas that with lumbar disc herniation four time as many as in the normal
population. The data demonstrate that the asymmetrical anomalies have more clinical
significance. The authors consider, that the role of the transitional vertebra is
twofold: it can be consider primary in low back and sciatic pain, but in the formation
of lumbar disc herniation is secondary. They find the analysis of the lumbosacral
plain x-ray is necessary even in cases with CT and MRI.
