Frequency of Ponticulus Posticus in Lateral Cephalometric Radiography of Peruvian Patients

The Ponticulus posticus is an anomalous ossification of unknown origin that arches backward from the superior articular process to the posterior arch of the Atlas vertebra, it can be complete or partial and houses vascular and nervous elements; it is diagnosed by lateral cervical radiography, cephalometric radiography or CT scans. The purpose for the present study was to determine the frequency of partial and complete Ponticulus posticus in lateral cephalometric radiography of Peruvian patients and identify any possible genre or age group associations. The study consisted in reviewing 1056 lateral cephalometric radiography of patients between 3-56 years old in search of partial or complete Ponticulus posticus. The mean age of subjects studied was 14.05 +/- 7.43 years old. The Ponticulus posticus frequency was 19.79%, the partial Ponticulus posticus frequency was 11.08% and the complete Ponticulus posticus frequency was 8.71%; Cramer's V and ETA statistics found not significant association between the PP and the genre or the age groups (p>0.05). The Ponticulus posticus is not an infrequent radiographic finding, our results are similar to those reported in the Americas and similar to different for other ethnic groups, we confirm that the Ponticulus posticus is not associated with genre or age and we reviewed the importance of the Ponticulus posticus in the prognosis of the Atlas-Axis surgical stabilization.