Cervical translaminar screw fixation has been shown to be safe, efficient and provides alternative for cervical fixation. However, its use in the Asian population should be considered cautiously because the cervical lamina diameter may not be adequate to accommodate the standard lamina screw size. We studied the average transverse lamina diameter of the cervical spine in the Malaysian population to evaluate the feasibility and safety of lamina screw fixation in this population.
The cervical pedicle diameter size differs between Asians and non-Asians. The authors studied the transverse pedicle diameter of the C2-C7 of the cervical spine in a Malaysian population using computerized tomography (CT) measurements. The transverse diameter of the pedicle is the determinant of the feasibility of this technique because the sagittal diameter of the pedicle has been wider than the transverse pedicle diameter.