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Evolutionary and Developmental Issues of Cervical Ribs/Evolutionary Issues of Cervical Ribs

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Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Abstract

Ribs on the seventh cervical vertebra, so-called cervical ribs, imply a change of the highly conserved number of cervical vertebrae in mammals from seven to six. Cervical ribs are rare in the general population, but they are common in deceased fetuses and infants. There is strong, often prenatal, selection against individuals with cervical ribs and as such, cervical ribs can be seen as marker of a disturbed early embryogenesis which may include congenital abnormalities of all organ systems. The almost unavoidable association with many different abnormalities appears to be due to the high global interactivity during the embryonic patterning of the cervical vertebrae. This strong interactivity can also explain the large heterogeneity of genetic and environmental causes of cervical ribs. In other mammals cervical ribs are also associated with abnormalities. Exceptionally the slow sloths and manatees can tolerate some of these normally deleterious side-effects, which has apparently allowed them to evolve an abnormal cervical vertebral number. In long-necked reptiles and birds, there is no constraint on changes of the number of cervical vertebrae.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Frietson Galis & Clara M. A. ten Broek

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Obstetrics and Prenatal Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Pauline C. Schut & Titia E. Cohen-Overbeek

Authors
  1. Frietson Galis
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  2. Pauline C. Schut
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  3. Titia E. Cohen-Overbeek
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  4. Clara M. A. ten Broek
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frietson Galis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Vascular Surgeon, Charleston, SC, USA

    Karl A. Illig

  2. Center for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and Section of Vascular Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Saint Louis, MO, USA

    Robert W. Thompson

  3. Wake Forest Baptist Health, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Atrium Health, Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Julie Ann Freischlag

  4. Department of Thoracic Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Thoracic Surgery, Boston, MA, USA

    Dean M. Donahue

  5. Neurological Associates, The Interventional Group, Santa Monica, CA, USA

    Sheldon E. Jordan

  6. Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Ying Wei Lum

  7. UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Hugh A. Gelabert

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Galis, F., Schut, P.C., Cohen-Overbeek, T.E., ten Broek, C.M.A. (2021). Evolutionary and Developmental Issues of Cervical Ribs/Evolutionary Issues of Cervical Ribs. In: Illig, K.A., et al. Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55073-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55073-8_4

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-55073-8

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