Correlation Between Lumbar Spinal Stenosis Based on Morphology of the Dural Sac and the Quality of Life

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the possible existence of a significant correlation between quality of life and severity classification of lumbar stenosis based on dural sac morphology in outpatients. Methods: Forty patients with a diagnosis of lumbar stenosis followed at a university hospital were submitted to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and quality of life questionnaires: Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), SF-36, Swiss Spinal Stenosis Questionnaire (SSS) and EQ-5D. They were classified as type A, B, C or D based on MRI. For the statistical analysis, the Spearman correlation was used. Results: Seventeen female patients and 23 male patients with mean age of 56.5 years constituted the sample. ODI had a mean dysfunction of 44.9%, the PCS score averaged 29.9, the MCS score was 41.3. The general symptoms of SSS presented a mean of 3.2 and the EQ-5D presented an average of 0.491. The patients with the highest severity in the classification were not necessarily those who presented worse scores in the quality of life questionnaires. Conclusion: The classification of severity of the lumbar spinal stenosis based on dural sac morphology does not correlate with the applied quality of life questionnaires. Level of Evidence III; Cross-sectional observational study.

Successful use of percutaneous interspinous spacers and adjunctive spinoplasty in a 9 year cohort of patients

“…LSS is also a disease of the elderly who inherently carry a greater anesthetic risk. Minimally invasive and percutaneously inserted interspinous spacers have been shown to be both non-inferior in terms of patient outcomes and to have decisive benefits in terms of operating times and blood loss 2–26. This cohort of patients, the largest in a single study, confirms the existing cited literature which shows improvement in patient symptomatology and function after interspinous spacer insertion.…”

“…The evaluation of LSS was based on Schizas qualitative grading (figure 1),18 which has been shown to better reflect the clinical severity of disease compared with traditional cross-sectional measurements by considering the actual morphology of the thecal sac 19…”

The Effect of Paraspinal Fatty Muscle Infiltration and Cumulative Lumbar Spine Degeneration on the Outcome of Patients with Lumbar Spinal Canal Stenosis: Analysis of the Lumbar Stenosis Outcome Study (LSOS) Data

“…Due to increasing image and depiction quality in recent years, many studies have tried to establish correlations of morphologic imaging findings with clinical endpoints, however, with limited success. [4][5][6] Beyond controversially discussed morphologic criteria of LSCS and quantification techniques, there may be other imaging factors such as fatty muscle infiltration (FMI) or the extent of spinal degeneration that impact on the outcome of patients with LSCS. 7,8 FMI is usually semiquantitatively assessed by using established scales, for examination, Goutallier grading.…”

“…Especially magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is often performed. Due to increasing image and depiction quality in recent years, many studies have tried to establish correlations of morphologic imaging findings with clinical endpoints, however, with limited success 4–6…”