Current occurence of intraspinal intradural and extradural communicating branches in the spinal canal.

UNLABELLED: THE AIM of this work is to point out the intraspinal anatomical current occurrence interconnections between intradural and extradural nerve roots and their possible participation in radiculopathy.

METHODS

The anatomical study was performed in 43 cadavers with a mean age of 53.7. All intradural and extradural rami communicantes between nerve roots were excised and examined histologically for the presence or absence of nervous tissue.

RESULTS

Anatomical preparations revealed intradural and extradural rami communicantes in 9 cases (20.9 %), mostly in the cervical region in 5 cases and by plexus formation variations in 5 cases. Multiple extradural rami communicantes were observed in 6 cases (13.95 %), including the simultaneous occurrence of multiple intradural and extradural ones in 5 cases (11.6 %).

CONCLUSIONS

This study allowed us to identify and describe unpublished intraspinal current occurrence intradural-extradural rami communicantes of nerve roots and their interrelationships throughout the spinal canal with their potential influence on the clinical picture (Tab. 1, Fig. 4, Ref. 25).