Abstract
A lucency traversing obliquely across the inferior-posterior aspect of cervical vertebral bodies may be a normal variant due to osteophytes of the uncinate processes or transverse processes with a resultant Mach band phenomenon. This could be misinterpreted as a fracture of the vertebral body in a patient with a history of cervical injury. A review of normal lateral cervical vertebral films obtained on patients with no traumatic history showed this phenomenon to occur in 27% of adults. It was not observed in children. The proper interpretation is easily made when one considers the location and the fact that a cervical fracture does not occur in such a location as an isolated event.
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Daffner, R.H., Deeb, Z.L. & Rothfus, W.E. Pseudofractures of the cervical vertebral body. Skeletal Radiol 15, 295–298 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00349818
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00349818