A Morphometric Study of Complete Agenesis of Dorsal Wall in Human Sacrum

Md. Jawed Akhtar; Premjeet Kumar Madhukar; Nasreen Fatima; Vinod Kumar

Volume : V, Issue : IV, April - 2015

A Morphometric Study of Complete Agenesis of Dorsal Wall in Human Sacrum

Md. Jawed Akhtar, Premjeet Kumar Madhukar, Nasreen Fatima, Vinod Kumar

Abstract :

 Background : Sacrum is a large triangular bone, which is formed by the fusion of five sacral verteae. The 

ventral wall of sacral canal is formed by the fusion of body of sacral vertea while dorsal wall is formed by 

fusion of laminae, spines & ossified ligamentum flava. There are numerous variations in dorsal wall of sacral canal. It may 

be open though out its entire length. To provide analgesia & anaesthesia the injections of medications are given into epidural space which is known as caudal epidural anaesthesia. The complete agenesis of dorsal wall of sacrum is among one 

of the contraindication of caudal epidural block.

Aim & Objective : To study the incidence of complete agenesis of dorsal wall of sacrum in Indian population & compare 

it with incidence among various races of the world.

Materials and methods : The present study has been carried out on 64 male & 52 Female (Total – 116 sacrum) undamaged dry sacrum after calculating the sacral indices and sexing of sacra.

Results : Sacrum with complete agenesis of dorsal wall are found in 3 among 116 sacrum (2.58%), in which 2 (1.72%) belongs to male & 1 (0.86%) belongs to female. Thus, complete agenesis of dorsal wall of sacrum is more common in male 

as compared to female.

Conclusion : The dorsal wall of sacrum has different anatomical variations. Complete agenesis is among one of them, 

understanding about this variation may decrease the failure rate of caudal epidural anaesthesia & minimizes the complications during surgeries.c