Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Surgical Considerations

Spinal stenosis is an acquired or congenital narrowing of the spinal or nerve-root canals. Surgical treatment is often effective. Acquired spinal stenosis most commonly occurs in those with degenerative disk disease and arthritic facets. If the degenerative process stabilizes and there is adequate room to accommodate the neural contents, symptomatic patients become asymptomatic. Residual stability after decompression must be assessed in patients having multilevel decompression. Fusion may be indicated. In women with osteoporosis coexisting with degenerative scoliosis and spinal stenosis, decompression for concave nerve-root compression and fusion are necessary. Spinal fusion is not indicated in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis having unilateral decompression for lateral stenosis. Patients with central-mixed stenosis may not need fusion. Patients with spinal stenosis after laminectomies  and diskectomies had better results when arthrodesis was done in conjunction with repeated  ecompression. Arthrodesis with instrumentation and decompression is recommended for patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis. (Journal of the Southern Orthopaedic Association 11(3):127–134, 2002)