Abstract :
Spinal stenosis as a clinical entity originally identified by Verbiest in 1949, who subsequently has published several studies related to the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of this condition. To demonstrate different magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of degenerative lumber spinal stenosis (LSS), and to match the MRI patterns of LSS with the clinical signs and symptoms. A cross sectional study from October 2009 to October 2010, for 104 patients referring to MRI unit for Lumbosacral spine examination at Al-Shaheed Ghazi Al-Hariri Teaching Hospital in medical city complex - Baghdad. Patient randomly selected and consisted of 64 female and 40 male. Age ranged between 32 and 73 year (the mean age was 52.5 year). The highest proportion of patients were 50-59 year age. L4/L5 level was the most frequently involved level (96.1%). 82.6 % of study sample revealed multi-level stenosis and majority of our patients (94.2%) showed central stenosis. Degenerative disc lesion was highest causative factor in degenerative LSS (86.5%). The commonest clinical presentation of degenerative LSS was root radiculopathy (low backache) (98%). The female/ male ratio was 1.6/1. The midsagittal diameter (MSD) of lumbar spinal canal in our study ranged between 5 and 15 mm (mean = 8.7 mm). MRI is good confirmatory diagnostic modality in patients with a consistent history of neurogenic claudication or radiculopathy and suspected to have degenerative LSS.
