There are 7 cervical vertebrae (vertebrae cervicales) in the vertebral column.

Generally speaking, they have the following distinctive features:

• A fairly small body, due to the fact that they carry little load

• The spinous processes of the 2nd-6th vertebrae have a bifurcation at their end

  

• There are holes in the transverse processes. Each opening is called foramen transversarium.

  The vertebral artery that participates in the blood supply of the brain passes through it.

  

  The cervical vertebrae can be divided into:

• Typical (III-VII)

• Atypical (I-II)

  Let us examine the structure of the typical vertebrae. We will not list all the structures; you can read about them in the previous PSF-note. We will only outline a few features that are unique to typical cervical vertebrae:

• The transverse process ends in anterior and posterior tubercles (tuberculum anterius et tuberculum posterius). The anterior tubercle of the 6th cervical vertebra is quite large, and the carotid artery may be clamped to it when

  

  

  bleeding (to stop this bleeding).

• On the transverse process, you can also find the groove for the spinal nerve (sulcus nervi spinalis), where the nerve passes through

  

• The spinous process of the 7th cervical vertebra is the longest, and its apex is quite well palpable. For this reason, the 7th cervical vertebra is called vertebra prominens

Dictionary

Typical cervical vertebrae

vertebrae cervicales

cervical vertebrae

corpus vertebrae

vertebral body

processus spinosus

spinous process

foramen transversarium

foramen transversarium

tuberculum anterius

anterior tubercle

tuberculum posterius

posterior tubercle

tuberculum caroticum

carotid tubercle

sulcus nervi spinalis

groove for spinal nerve

vertebra prominens

vertebra prominens