A physiological approach to the evaluation of lumbosacral spinal stenosis

It has been demonstrated that MR imaging of the lumbosacral spine may frequently show stenosis in an asymptomatic individual. This article discusses the value of a physiologic test--dermatomal somatosensory evoked potentials--to assist in the diagnosis of true neurogenic spinal stenosis in patients with back and leg complaints and to aid in the separation of these patients from those whose symptoms are caused by degenerative spine disease with referred pain.