MILD: Percutaneous lumbar decompression for spinal stenosis

Abstract

Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), or the narrowing of the spinal canal and neuroforamina, is secondary to degenerative changes in the spine, causing hypertrophy of the ligamentum flavum, degenerative disc disease, facet arthropathy, and osteophyte formation (Fig. 2.1). Central LSS leads to compression of the spinal cord, and foraminal stenosis causes compression of exiting nerve root causing radiculopathy. The hallmark symptom of LSS is neurogenic claudication (NC), which is pain aggravated by axial extension and relieved by forward flexion. Patients with LSS may also present with radiculopathy described as radiating pain in a dermatomal distribution. LSS generally affects men and women after age 50.