Lumbar canal stenosis

Causes of Stenosis

• Degenerative spondylo-listhesis• Facet subluxation and hypertrophy• Pagets disease• Tumour• Facet joint cyst• Congenital- achondroplasia• Scoliosis with lateral shift

Differential Diagnosis

• Vascular Claudication• Hip OA• Lumbar disc protrusion• MS• Tumour• AV malformation• Peripheral Neuropathy

Zones of nerve compression in Spinal Stenosis

Types of Stenosis

• Central: No pain, but legs ‘slow’ on walking

• Lateral recess: Unilateral leg pain, increased on walking.

Diagnosis

Congenital Stenosis

Infectious Stenosis

Traumatic Stenosis

Diagnosis

Degenerative Stenosis

JT. Right L45 Facet Joint Cyst.Severe Right sided leg pain and Low back painTreated with decompression surgery

65/M. Pagets Disease causing stenosis. Long standing LBP. Neurogenic claudication distance 50 yards

Symptoms• 70% also have back pain• Leg pain worse on walking and standing and

eased on sitting or bending forwards• Can cycle or walk leaning forwards on a trolley• Gradually Progressive• Increased on walking on hard surfaces , down

an incline and in high heels

Tandem Stenosis

• In 15-20% of patients both cervical and lumbar stenosis are present

• Hoffman Sign positive. • Heel-Toe gait – poor balance.• Usually operate on the neck first

Signs

• Minimal!!• One of the hallmarks of these patients is that

they have no spinal tenderness, a full range of movement, SLR is normal and there is no neuro-deficit.

• Diagnosis is purely in the history

Spinal Stenosis- what’s new?

• Diagnosis often missed as no positive examination findings

• Diagnosis on history: difficulty walking with cramps in legs, eased on sitting

• Epidural injections- short term relief• Surgery- Now never do a laminectomy alone-

alters the biomechanics• Always add dynamic stabilization- excellent

outcomes

When to refer?

• Pain uncontrolled in primary care• Walking getting progressively worse

• Surgery is straight forward• No increase in surgical risk due to age.

Treatment

• Conservative -Rest, analgesics, anti-

inflammatories, oral steroids, antispasmodics, physiotherapy, weight loss, steroid injections

Treatment- Laminectomy and Dynamic Stabilization( my

preferred option)

Complications and Outcomes of Surgery

• 2-4% risk of infection, CSF leak , and Neural Injury• No death, or paralysis in 17 years of practise in

over 4000 cases• Surgery has become safer, outcomes better and

recovery quicker• 80% better on average• Increased age alone does not result in increased

risk of surgery

Dynamic Stabilization

• 29 elderly patients with degenerative scoliosis. Decompressive laminectomy and dynamic stabilization without fusion. (Dynesis)

• 54 month mean follow up. Oswestry score improvement of 51.6%. 51.7% improvement in VAS leg pain, and 57.8% for VAS back pain.

Sivestre M, Lolli F, Bakaloudis G. Dynamic stabilization for degenerative lumbar scoliosis in elderly patients. Spine 2010 Jan

Dynamic Stabilization

• 100 patients. Decompression and pedicle screw based dynamic stabilization (Cosmic)

• Improved disability scores. ODI pre-op of 51, and post-op of 21.

• Improvement in pain. VAS pre-op 6.5 and post-op 2.1.

• SF-36 outcomes were also improved.Stoffel M, Behr M, Reinke A, Meyer B. Pedicle screw-based dynamic stabilization of the thoracolumbar spine with the Cosmic-system: a prospective observation. Achta Neurochirurg 2010 May