Foramen in the right anterior root of transverse process of a typical cervical vertebra

The cervical vertebrae are the smallest vertebrae with a vertebral foramen and a foramen transversarium in each transverse process. The foramen transversarium transmits the vertebral artery with its accompanying veins and a sympathetic plexus from the lower cervical ganglion. In this case, a foramen was noticed in the right ventral bar of the transverse process of a typical cervical vertebra. The diameter of the foramen was 3.6 mm x 3.4 mm and was at a distance of 3.5 mm lateral to vertebral body. This foramen was entirely different from the accessory foramen transversarium. Neither standard textbooks nor journals of anatomy have reported such a foramen. To our knowledge, this is the first report of such a foramen, for which we propose the term of anterior root foramen.