Introduction:

There are several studies of imaging and autopsies of medullary cone height variation.

Objective:

To determine the height of the medullary cone in adults in a Mexican population.

Material and methods:

Measurement of medullary cone height in a sample of 500 adults over 18 years old, with magnetic resonance imaging.

Results:

In a sample of 500 patients, 238 female (47.6%) and 262 male (52.4%), with a mean age of 46 years (range from 18 to 72), it was observed a variation of the medullary cone height from the lower half of T1 to the L2-L3 space, with a predominance of the lower half of L1 (n = 164), 45.8%, and of the L1-L2 space (n = 152), 30.3 %, with no differences in relation to age or gender. When the medullary cone was located at level lower than L1-L2 space, a statistically significant difference (p of 0.05 and 0.03) was observed in the female gender.

Conclusions:

Medullary cone was located at the lower half of L1 and the L1-L2 space in 76% of the cases with no difference between genders or age, their predominance being below these levels in female gender at the studied sample.