Abstract:Objective: To investigate the feasibility and accuracy of ultrasonic cross-sectional method in detecting cervical facet joints. Methods: Twenty volunteers who met the criteria of clinical and needed to receive cervical vertebra CT were selected. A total of 160 cross sections of the facet joints on both sides of C3-C7 were scanned by ultrasound. When it was considered that the facet joint can be accurately detected, a straight line was drawn through the midpoint of spinous process in the plane on the ultrasound cross-sectional image to intersect with the inferior articular process in the plane tangentially. The intersection point was used as the reference point. The horizontal distance (a), vertical distance (b) and the distance (c) from the midpoint of spinous process to the reference point were measured, and the neck skin in the plane was marked. The plane was scanned by CT, and the above distances were measured. The distance measured by the two scanning methods was statistically compared. Results: A total of 138 cervical facet joints were detected, and the success rate was 86.25%. The values of a, b and c on both sides of each segment measured by ultrasonic cross-sectional scanning were compared with the corresponding CT measurements, and there was no significant difference. . Conclusions: Ultrasonic cross-sectional scanning can accurately detect the cervical facet joint.