Spinal Stenosis: Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, and Treatment

Degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is the most common form of acquired spinal stenosis caused by biomechanical narrowing of the spinal canal and the associated neuroforamen that eventually lead to compression of neural fibers resulting in pain and disability. Neurogenic claudication as a result of lumbar spinal stenosis is a common chronic pain condition that is often difficult to treat due to paucity of effective minimally invasive options. Patients who exhaust conservative means usually have short term pain relief with epidural steroid injections prior to being offered open lumbar decompression surgery. LSS is a progressive, age related degenerative process that causes narrowing of the lumbar spinal canal. More than 1.2 million patients in the US are diagnosed with spinal stenosis each year, and the number is expected to rise as our population matures. This presentation will focus on the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and treatment options available for spinal stenosis. There will be discussions relating to the health economics of spinal stenosis as it pertains to disability and cost of treatment. We will specifically focus on some of the recently available minimally invasive options such as indirect interspinous decompression and minimally invasive lumbar decompression.