[Tomodensitometric aspects of the narrow lumbar canal]

Thirty of 200 cases of lumbar radiculalgia of degenerative origin presented clinical, radiologic, saccographic, and computed tomography signs of a typical narrow lumbar canal, half of these patients having benefited from surgical mobilization of the neuromeninges. Performances of new generation scanners have enabled the development of computed tomography images typical of a narrow lumbar canal, and also to improved assessment of radiotomographic and saccographic signs, as a result of direct visibility of osteo-articular radicular constrainst factors in the transverse axial plane. Findings in stenotic dysplasia, the role of vertebral arthrosis, the particular cases of spondylolisthesis, and the entity determined by isolated stenosis of the nerve root canal (mainly stenosis of the lateral recess) are discussed.