Morphometric Investigation of the Sacral Bone in MR Images

Introduction and purpose: The sacrum is an important bone structure involved in the field of fusion and stabilization in the treatment of sacral bone, lumbosacral and sacroiliac deformities or injuries. The aim of this study is to determine the mean index values of some parameters in the sacrum according to age and gender in certain age groups and to contribute to the literature. Materials and Methods: In this study, measurements were made using 3D CT images of the sacrum in patients who were admitted to Erciyes University Gevher Nesibe Hospital for various complaints and underwent lumbar CT. Totally, 166 men and 144 women aged 10-50 years were included in the study. The mean index values of the sacral length, sacral width, sacral angle, hiatal length, hiatal width and hiatal angle were determined. Angle measurements were performed using the ImageJ, a Java-based image processing program. Findings: When we compare the data in our study, we found a significant difference in the mean hiatal length between men and women (p<0.05). The mean sacral length was 112.69±16.61 mm in men and 105.58±15.18 mm in women, respectively. Sacral width was found to be 109.93 ± 10.51 mm in men and 110.63 ± 10.48 mm in women.Conclusion: There was no significant difference in sacral length, sacral width, sacral angle, hiatal width, hiatal angle measurements in male and female and there was no significant difference between hiatal length.