Cervical Anatomy and Pathology - 71 Year Old Female

Coronal section through a severely degenerated lower cervical spine of a 70–year old female who had neck pain but no history of radiculopathy or vertebral artery insufficiency. The spondylosis (degeneration of the "disc joint") encompasses severe degeneration of the intervertebral discs and endplate sclerosis especially in the uncovertebral pseudojoints at which reactive degenerative bone apposition entails ridging which segmentally displaces the vertebral arteries laterally, causing them to take an undulating serpiginous course. On both sides the segmental nerves emerge behind the vertebral artery.