Blood supply of irregular bones — 1: Vertebral column

Abstract

The vertebral column (Nomina Anatomica 1989) is familiar to all as the spine, run through by the spinal cord, and operated upon by spinal surgeons. It has seven cervical, 12 thoracic and five lumbar vertebrae, and a sacrum formed by the fusion of five sacral segments, and ending in a diminutive coccyx (fusion of four segments). At birth, the column is concave ventrally; from childhood onwards, the cervical and lumbar regions are convex.