Combined neurogenic and vascular claudication

Patients with pain or discomfort in the legs during exercise which is relieved by rest should not automatically be labelled as having intermittent claudication due to vascular insufficiency; the greatest imitator of this condition is radiculopathy associated with a narrow lumbar spinal canal. Problems involved in differentiating the neurogenic and vascular components in such cases are described on the basis of experience in the Department of Neurosurgery at Groote SChuur Hospital.