I'm not an authority on these terms and may be using them incorrectly myself, but I think of an anterior osteophyte as on on the front of the vertebral body. Poserior osteophytes would be on the back of the vertebral body. In other cases when I see these anterior / posterior, I see them qualified with more description about what anterior/posterior is relative to.
I will not be surprised if people dig up all kinds of examples of conflicting use these and other terms. The same terms mean different things to different doctors. (protrusion, bulge, extrusion, herniation?)
Mark
PS... anterior osteophytes are not always symptomatic. If they are too large or if you have unique anatomy surrounding the osteophytes, you may have substantial symptoms as the osteophytes interfere with your throat. Ask KL Aguilar over on Braintalk about this.
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