Lumbar Stenosis: Case Study

   

This 68 year old developed increased buttock pain especially when walking. She was previously very active, but over the past 6 months has not been able to walk more than ½ block without developing severe buttock pain necessitating her to sit.
Her MRI scan shows severe lumbar stenosis at multiple levels seen on both the sagittal scans (Images A & B). The red outlines the spinal canal. The blue outlines what a normal spinal canal would look like. Note the hour-glass tightness that occurs at the disc levels, especially at L2-3, L3-4, and L4-5.
 

   

The cross-sectional, axial scans (Images C & D) which show the severe tightness. Again, the red outlines the dimensions of the spinal canal, and the blue outlines what a normal spinal canal would look like.

A lumbar laminectomy resulted in her ability to walk up to 1 mile easily, and return to her position as a hospital volunteer.