[Lumbar lateral recess stenosis. Clinical symptoms, diagnostic modalities and surgical management].

BACKGROUND: In spite of its importance for lumbar radicular syndroms only a few reports about lumbar lateral recess stenosis exist in literature. Most important clinical symptom is radicular pain, which may be exercise-dependent. Confirmation of diagnosis and differentiation from disc herniation requires imaging like CT, MRI or post-myelo-CT. Surgical treatment options include selective decompression techniques like foraminotomy, medial facettectomy and undercutting as well as hemilaminectomy, laminotomy and wide laminectomy or fusion. METHOD: We treated 35 patients with selective decompression techniques. RESULTS: In the follow-up 5 up to 18 months after surgery 25 patients for themselves described the results as good or excellent. Therefore, individually tailored selective microsurgical decompression is an appropriate and successful treatment strategy for lumbar lateral recess stenosis, if conservative treatment fails.