Lumbosacral and Spinopelvic Anatomy and Pathology - Lumbar Spine

Lower lumbar spine from a 45–year–old woman through the lateral recess. Both the L5–S1 and the L4–L5 discs are internally disrupted and the non–nal architecture is distorted into an irregular pat– tern of buckling annular fibers. The endplates of both discs display dome–shaped central excavations (depressions). The epidural space contains fat into which large veins are nested, especially behind the concavity of the L5 body. The laminae are sloping postero–inferiorly. Note the attachment of the ligamentum flavum which is markedly thinner at the lumbosacral than at higher levels. As it traverses the lateral recess, the L5 root (arrow) passes a soft tissue hiatus formed by the slightly bulging annulus anteriorly and the ligamentum flavum posteriorly.

©2000 Wolfgang Rauschning, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Clinical Anatomy
Academic University Hospital
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Uppsala, Sweden
Reproduction without permission is prohibited
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