Degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis is caused by mechanical factors and/or biochemical alterations within the intervertebral disk that lead to disk space collapse, facet joint hypertrophy, soft-tissue infolding, and osteophyte formation, which narrows the space available for the thecal sac and exiting nerve roots. The clinical consequence of this compression is neurogenic claudication and varyi...

The use of neuraxial anesthesia has traditionally been contraindicated in patients with severe aortic stenosis. However, general anesthesia can be riskier than neuraxial anesthesia for severe aortic stenosis patients undergoing spinal surgeries in the prone position as this can cause a major reduction in cardiac output secondary to diminished preload. In addition, general anesthesia, muscle rel...

The authors have made a retrospective study of a cohort of patients who underwent surgery for spinal stenosis. A total of 85 patients were surgically treated for spinal stenosis between 1993 and 1997, and 79 patients were available for re-evaluation. The average time of follow-up was 79 months. Twenty patients with monosegmental stenosis underwent fenestration and undercutting, 16 patients had ...

OBJECT The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility and efficacy of treating spondylolisthesis-related spinal stenosis via unilateral approach bilateral decompression in which METRx-MD instrumentation is placed. METHODS Eight consecutive patients with spinal stenosis underwent bilateral decompressions via a unilateral approach in which METRx-MD instrumentation was placed. The pro...

BACKGROUND Symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis produces gradually progressive back and leg pain with standing and walking, relieved by sitting or lying. One of the uncommon symptoms is involuntary intermittent penile erection due to spinal canal stenosis. This symptom is very rare and often forgotten when history is taken. METHODS In this case report, a patient suffering from intermittent pria...

STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional retrospective study designed to assess interobserver agreement. PURPOSE To investigate if interobserver agreement using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the evaluation of lumbar spinal canal stenosis and root compression can be improved upon combination with magnetic resonance myelography (MRM). OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE The interpretation of lumbar spinal MRI, ...

Direct measurements were made on 2,166 lumbar vertebrae of 433 adult negro and caucasoid skeletons. On statistical analysis, forty-five vertebrae in twenty-seven skeletons were found to be stenotic, the mid-sagittal diameter being the significantly reduced dimension. Whereas spinal stenosis syndromes are rare in South African negroes, the lumbar canal is marginally narrower in the negro. There ...

BACKGROUND Epidural injections are performed to manage lumbar central spinal stenosis pain utilizing caudal, interlaminar, and transforaminal approaches. The literature on the efficacy of epidural injections in managing lumbar central spinal stenosis pain is sparse; lacking multiple, high quality randomized trials with long-term follow-up. METHODS Two randomized controlled trials of the cauda...

STUDY DESIGN This is a prospective, multicenter cohort study including 8 medical centers in the metropolitan area of the Canton Zurich, Switzerland. OBJECTIVES To examine whether outcome and quality of life might improve after decompression surgery for degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (DLSS) even in patients older than 80 years and to compare data with a younger patient population from our...

OBJECTIVE Lumbar spinal stenosis is conventionally treated with surgical decompression. However, bilateral decompression and laminectomy is more invasive and may not be necessary for lumbar stenosis patients with unilateral radiculopathy. We aimed to report the outcomes of unilateral laminectomy and bilateral pedicle screw fixation with fusion for patients with lumbar spinal stenosis and unilat...