Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: An Update on the Epidemiology, Diagnosis and Operative Complication

Background

Lumbar spinal canal stenosis is one of the most important causes of Low Back Pain & it is the frequent cause of disability. When conservative treatments fail, surgery is the only way to treat this patients & different surgical procedure are there. Posterior decompression by Laminotomy, Laminectomy, Foraminotomy is common operation for spinal canal stenosis in our country.

Objective

The aim of this study was to assess the epidemiology, clinical feature, diagnosis and operative complcation of the lumbar spinal stenosis patients.

Methods

This Prospective Interventional Study study was carried out among 28 patients attending at the department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh Spine & Orthopaedic Hospital (BSOH), Al-Manar Hospital Ltd, Dhaka for the treatment of lumbar spinal canal stenosis within the defined period from January 2022 to December 2022. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of DMCH. Purposive sampling was done according to availability of the patients. Statistical analyses of the results were obtained by using window based computer software devised with Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS-20.1).

Results

Mean age of the patients was 51.32±8.29 years and the ranges were 40-70 years where maximum belonged to 40-49 years of age (42.86%). Greater part of the patients was female 60.71% with a female: Male ratio 1.6 :1. Maximum patients were Housewife 57.14% and manual worker 32.14%. All of the study patients had low back pain and 85.71% had leg pain. 92.86% patients had Neurogenic claudication. Motor weakness in lower extremities were seen in 22 patients (78.57%) & Sensory changes were seen in 21 patients (75.00%). Most commonly involved intervertebral disc level was L4/L5 (39.29%) & less in L2/3, 3/4 (3.57%). operative complications were seen in 2 patients (7.14%) where in 2 patients (7.14%) developed superficial wound infection post-operatively.

Conclusion

Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is a common spinal disorder in the older population. All of the study patients had low back pain. Most commonly involved intervertebral disc level was L4/L5. Operative complications were seen in only 2 patients.