Spinal lumbar stenosis. An update

Spinal lumbar stenosis is a disease that occurs mainly between the 5(th) and 7(th) decade of life and can be congenital or acquired. The latter has many etiologies, but a degenerative cause is the most common. Stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal diameter caused by many factors such as bulging discs, hypertrophy of flavum ligament, facet capsule thickening and osteophyte formation. The classical symptom of the disease is sciatic pain, that improves with lumbar flexion and worsens with ambulation. Neurological examination is often normal and the most useful imaging test is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Conservative management consists in non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxants, physical therapy and epidural radicular infiltrations. Spinal infiltrations have a proven efficacy for pain management. A good result of this therapy predicts a favorable outcome after surgery. Surgical treatment consists in decompression with or without lumbar fusion. The addition of an arthrodesis is recommended for degenerative spondylolisthesis, correction of deformities, recurrent spinal stenosis with instability, sagittal or coronal imbalance and adjacent segment disease. (Rev Med Chile 2011; 139:1488-1495).