An Anomolousincidence of a Cervical Rib-A Radiographic Case Report

Abstract

The 7th cervical vertebra or vertebra prominence is visible and palpable for its long spinous process at the lower end of the nuchal furrow. The costal lamella is thin and partially deficient or may separate as a cervical rib. During the routine radiologic interpretation of a chest X-ray, in the of Department of Radiology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India, we observed a case of right cervical rib, in a 30 years old woman. The patient came to the OPD with the complaints of swelling along the arms, pain, feeling of pins and needles in her affected right arm. The cervical rib is a supernumerary rib arising from a cervical vertebra, an elongation of the transverse process of the seventh cervical vertebra. However, cervical ribs are accessory or additional ribs that are permanent dysmorphological structures, forms an important cause for neurovascular compression and consequent muscular and cutaneous symptoms at the thoracic inlet and beyond into the upper extremity. Accessory ribs are permanent structures in contrast to ossification sites that disappear postnatally, probably becoming part of the lateral transverse vertebral processes.

Keywords

• cervical rib
• thoracic outlet syndrome
• neurovascular disturbances