[Long-term results of surgical treatment of lumbar stenoses]

A total of 55 patients with lumbar stenoses which had been existing for a period of 4.5 to 10 years were checked postoperatively. The findings were compared with the preoperative status of the patients. Although in most cases a more extensive decompression was carried out, no cumulated occurrence of spondylolisthesis could be found, nor was a serious and progressive instability of the lumbar spinal cord found in patients with multilevel interventions. On the basis of the clinical-neurological and X-ray checking its was found that the danger of a ventral vertebral sliding due to an extensive decompression is much smaller than the consequences of an insufficient decompression of the neural structures in the stenosed lumbar spinal channel.