• Jacob Razzouk, Davis Carter, Mei Carter, Ethan Vyhmeister, Whitney Kagabo, Omar Ramos, Clifford Douglas, Nathaniel Wycliffe, Wayne Cheng, and Olumide Danisa.
• School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, USA.
• Eur Spine J. 2024 Jan 1; 33 (1): 9310293-102.

PurposeTo compare measurements of lumbar neuroforaminal dimensions (NFD) derived from plain film radiography (PFR) and computed tomography (CT) of young patients without spinal pathology.MethodsWe analyzed 213 patients between 18 and 35 years of age without spinal pathology who received PFR and CT within one year of each other. NFD were defined as foraminal height, sagittal anterior-to-posterior width, and area. Statistical analyses assessed correlations and differences between PFR- and CT-derived NFD measurements.Results111 subjects were female and 102 were male. Significant differences between PFR- and CT-derived NFD measurements were observed for all levels L1-S1, with those for foraminal height listed as follows: 4.10 mm at L1-L2, 1.58 mm at L2-L3, 3.23 mm at L3-L4, 4.27 mm at L4-L5, and 1.75 mm at L5-S1. Regarding foraminal area, these differences were 72.20, 73.45, 61.80, 35.38, and 16.18 mm2, respectively. PFR-derived measurements of NFD were larger compared to those derived from CT across all levels (p < .001). Only weak (0 ≤ r ≤ .4) or moderate (.4 ≤ r ≤ .7) correlations were observed between PFR- and CT-derived NFD measurements for all levels from L1-S1.ConclusionThis study describes 9585 measurements from L1-S1 of neuroforaminal measurements derived from CT and plain film radiography from a sample of young patients without spinal pathology. Among these patients, plain film measurements of the neuroforamina are larger compared to those derived from CT for all levels from L1-S1. There is poor correlation and reliability between plain film and CT measurements of neuroforaminal dimensions.© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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