[Lumbar spinal stenosis in systemic diseases and in hereditary syndromes]

In the general category of congenital spinal stenosis, there is a group of patients with particular features: patients suffering from a hereditary or systemic disease with congenital narrowing of the spinal canal. Evaluation of their neurological symptoms is influenced by the peculiarities of the underlying disease. The tendency toward paralysis and paraplegia is much higher in those patients. Attention must especially be given to technical details when operating on achondroplastic dwarfs. Early, most extensive surgery is recommended. We report our experience between 1987 and 1992 with operations on 6 cases of stenosis of the lumbar canal with hereditary or systemic disease.