A study of the radiographic anatomy of the cervical spine in the dog

Cervical radiographs, with the neck in varying positions, were made of a series of dogs belonging to different breeds, all with conditions unrelated to the spine. Post-mortem myelograms were carried out on a small number, and the cervical vertebrae macerated. Measurement of cervical angles, and sagittal diameters of the neural canal were obtained from the plain radiographs. The relative positions of adjacent vertebrae were noted. The sagittal diameter values were compared with those calculated from the myelograms and isolated vertebrae.
The vertebral angles showed a wide variation, the vertebrae moved relatively to one another as the position of the neck was varied, and the sagittal diameters showed good correlation between plain radiographs, myelograms and isolated vertebrae.