Examining the anatomical variants of sacroiliac joint on computed tomography

ABSTRACT PhD. Thesis EXAMINING THE ANATOMICAL VARIANTS OF SACROILIAC JOINT ON COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY Mehmet DEMİR Gaziantep University-Graduate School of Health Sciences Department of Anatomy Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Erdem GÜMÜŞBURUN June-2004, 62 Pages The aim of this work was to examine the type and prevalance of anatomical variants of the sacroiliac joint. This study has been realized between January 2002 and March 2003 on 400 consecutive patients (204 men and 196 women) who attempted to Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Radiology department for undergoing pelvic computed tomography imaging. In this study patients hadn't got any complain or evidence of disease that could involve the sacroiliac joint. Patient's age were equal or higher than 15. We observed 6 types of anatomical variants. 1. accessory sacroiliac joint (70 patients, 17.5% ), 2. iliosacral complex (38 patients, 9.5%), 3. bipartide iliac bony plate (22 patients, 5.5%), 4. semicircular defects on iliac/ sacral side (19 patients, 4.8%), 5. crescent like iliac bony plate (14 patients, 3.5%) 6. ossification centers (4 patients, 1.0%). Men had a higher prevalence of bipartide iliac bony plate, women had a high prevalence of semicircular defects on iliac/ sacral side, crescent like iliac bony plate, ossification centers (p<0,05). With increasing age, patients showed a higher incidence of accessory sacroiliac joint, bipartide iliac bony plate, semicircular defects on iliac/sacral side and crescent like iliac bony plate (p<0,05). Obese women demonstrated a higher percantage of accessory sacroiliac joint, iliosacral complex and semicircular defects on iliac/sacral side (p<0,05). With increasing the number of childbirth, women had a higher incidence of accessory sacroiliac joint (p<0,05). Subchondral sclerosis, osteophytes, ankylosis and vacuum phenomena were more common with anatomical variants on sacroiliac joints. The width of the joint space were 1.92±0.57 mm. Knowledge of the degenerative findings and anatomical variants in the sacroiliac joint is useful to interpreting and examinations of computed tomography images. Key words: Anatomical variant, sacroiliac joint, computed tomography.