spinal_stenosis
Table of Contents
spinal stenosis
see also:
Introduction
- spinal stenosis is narrowing of the spinal canal or neural foraminae resulting in pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots
- lumbar stenosis is most common followed by cervical stenosis
- 1st described by Antoine Portal in 1803
Lumbar spinal stenosis
aetiology
- usually degenerative as a result of arthritis of the facet joints and thus occurs mainly in those over 50yrs age and females are at higher risk
- as the disks dry out with age and lose height, more weight is taken on by the facet joints leading to arthritic changes and the neural foraminae become smaller
- affects some 8% of the elderly population
- congenital forms may present between ages 30 and 50 yrs
- other causes include rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis (AS), spinal tumours, trauma, Paget's disease, scoliosis, spondylolisthesis, achondroplasia
clinical features
- pain on standing
- neurogenic intermittent claudication may occur on prolonged standing, walking or extension of the lumbar spine
- sciatica may occur and may be bilateral
- severe cases may cause cauda equina syndrome (CES)
Cervical spinal stenosis
- can be more dangerous than lumbar stenosis as it may cause acute spinal cord compression and resulting myelopathy
spinal_stenosis.txt · Last modified: 2022/03/17 10:37 by gary1