Document Type

Honors Thesis

Abstract

Lumbosacral transitional vertebrae, or LSTV, is generally considered to be a congenital anomaly affecting the fifth lumbar vertebra and first sacral body. It is presented as sacralization, characterized by a caudal shift of fifth lumbar vertebra, and lumbarization, characterized by a cranial shift of the first sacral body. This research focused on the prevalence of LSTV in the osteological collection (overall and by sex), on nonmetric observations to describe the anomaly, and on metric observations to observe the effect of LSTV on bone. It was found that LSTV occurs in 20% of the sample. In addition, LSTV is more common in females and sacralization is more common than lumbarization. The areas affected by LSTV on the fifth lumbar vertebrae and first sacral bodies showed metric differences when compared to the control sample; however, there is not a distinguishable pattern. Overall, it appears that LSTV is highly variable in its expression on bone.

Publication Date

5-1-2018

Language

English

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