BACKGROUND Lumbar spinal stenosis is a pathological condition of the spinal channel with its concentric narrowing with presence of specific clinical syndrome. Absence of the clear unified radiological signs is the one of the basic problems of the lumbar spinal stenosis. PURPOSE The authors seek to create method of assessment of the spinal canal narrowing degree, based on anatomical aspects of...

We carried out an MRI study of the lumbar spine in 15 patients with achondroplasia to evaluate the degree of stenosis of the canal. They were divided into asymptomatic and symptomatic groups. We measured the sagittal canal diameter, the sagittal cord diameter, the interpedicular distance at the mid-pedicle level and the cross-sectional area of the canal and spinal cord at mid-body and mid-disc ...

Background: Brown-Sequard syndrome (BSS) is a rare neurological condition resulting from a hemisection injury to or unilateral compression on the spinal cord. The most common causes of BSS that are amenable to be treated surgically can be divided into traumatic and non-traumatic injuries. Traumatic injuries are often reported as the main cause of BSS. However, non-traumatic injuries of the spin...

In 139 patients with burst fractures of the thoracic, thoracolumbar or lumbar spine, the least sagittal diameter of the spinal canal at the level of injury was measured by computerised tomography. By multiple logistic regression we investigated the joint correlation of the level of the burst fracture and the percentage of spinal canal stenosis with the probability of an associated neurological ...

Internal fixation of traumatic spinal injuries has been associated with spinal canal stenosis, spinal cord compression, and nerve root impingement. We present a case of spinal cord/cauda equina compression due to migration of intact, anchored thoracolumbar Luque rods into the spinal canal through a laminectomy defect, leading to neurologic complications 10 years after the original operation.

In 1934 Mixter and Barr described the syndrome of the ruptured intervertebral disc in the lumbar region. Since then the herniated intervertebral disc has been considered to be the dominant cause of low back pain and sciatica. In 1953 Schlesinger and Taveras pointed out that in the presence of a narrow spinal canal patients with herniated intervertebral discs may present an atypical picture of m...

A technique of combined expanding laminoplasty using longitudinal interspinous iliac bone graft with posterior lateral mass plate is described for the treatment of cervical canal stenosis associated with spinal instability. A 52-year-old male and a 76-year-old female presented with cervical myelopathy. Imaging studies demonstrated spondylotic cervical canal stenosis associated with spinal insta...

STUDY DESIGN Case-control study. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to define clinically relevant relative and critical (absolute) magnetic resonance imaging values of lumbar spinal stenosis in a cohort of 100 surgical cases and 100 asymptomatic controls. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Developmental spinal stenosis is a precipitating factor in patients presenting with lumbar canal stenosis. Ye...

PURPOSE To evaluate a slow-flow MR sequence in normal CSF flow and in CSF flow disturbance in cases of spinal stenosis. METHOD The method was tested for flow sensitivity and applied to 67 sites of spinal canal compromise. RESULTS Phantom studies show that flow can be depicted at a velocity of 0.5-1 mm/sec. On clinical images, stagnant CSF is black, flowing CSF is bright. Typically, in high-...

BACKGROUND The lumbar spine includes 5 lumbar vertebral bodies, L1, L2, L3, L4, and L5. At each level, there is a disc space defined by the two bones (vertebral bodies) in the back; for example, there is a disc space at the L5-S1 level etc. The normal front to back (anterior to posterior or AP diameter) measurement of the spinal canal is typically 18-20 mm, but some patients have narrowing call...