Lumbar decompressive surgery

Abstract

Traditionally, decompressive surgery of the lumbar spine has produced successful results in terms of relieving lower extremity radicular pain. In the setting of degenerative disk disease, decompressive surgery is usually performed for lumbar disk herniation or lumbar spinal stenosis in patients with persistent lumbar radiculopathy or neurogenic claudication. When localized to a single nerve root secondary to herniated nucleus pulposus or isolated canal stenosis, decompression is most efficiently achieved with microscopic or minimally invasive techniques. These procedures are the topic of another article in this journal. In this article, we will review the clinical presentation of patients with multilevel lumbar radiculopathy with or without neurogenic claudication, and describe operative techniques for decompression of their underlying degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis.