Morphology of the cervical vertebrae in two caucasian ethnic groups.

A morphometric study of the cervical vertebrae was carried out on 63 Italian skeletons and 58 Asiatic Indian skeletons. The results indicate that there are considerable differences in the vertebral dimensions between ethnic groups of the same racial type. In a high proportion of both groups the mean sagittal diameter was less than 12 mm, which contradicts current opinion that this is the dividing line between the normal and the stenotic canal.