PMID: 11341632May 9, 2001Paper

The stenosis ratio: a new tool for the diagnosis of degenerative spinal stenosis

International Journal of Surgical Investigation
C T LaurencinJ Hunter

Abstract

Low back pain from lumbar spinal stenosis is a significant source of morbidity, especially among the elderly population. Accurate diagnosis is imperative for effective treatment to be initiated. This paper presents a quantitative method for the evaluation of spinal stenosis that, when used in conjunction with CT and MRI, may greatly aid the clinician in the diagnosis of this debilitating condition. Precise clinical tools for the diagnosis of spinal stenosis are severely lacking. Low back pain and dysfunction derived from lumbar spinal stenosis is a significant source of morbidity, especially among the elderly. Despite its importance, there has been little progress made towards establishing valid, quantitative criteria for the diagnosis of spinal stenosis. We present a new quantitative tool for the diagnosis of lumbar stenosis, the Stenosis Ratio (SR). CT scans and MRI scans of 43 patients presenting with clinico-radiographic evidence of lumbar stenosis were used. The patient group consisted of 13 males and 30 females between the ages 49 and 82 with average age of 67. CT and MRI/scans of 43 patients were digitized and computer analyzed. Measurements of SR, defined as the ratio of the cross-sectional dural area of the motion segm...Continue Reading

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