Clinical Classification of Patients With Lumbar Spinal Stenosis Based on Their Leg Pain Syndrome: Its Correlation With 2-Year Surgical Outcome.

Yamashita, Kazuo MD;  Aono, Hiroyuki MD;  Yamasaki, Ryoji MD

Although classifying patients based on their leg pain syndrome is useful in planning surgical decompression, there is no validated method of classification and its prognostic significance remains unknown.  The objective of this study was to examine whether the type of leg pain syndrome associated with lumbar spinal stenosis is correlated with outcome.  Based on the type of leg pain, the patients were classified into 2 groups: unilateral and bilateral and improvement in functional status was evaluated.  The results show that  the type of leg pain was independently associated with improvements in function and leg symptom scores but was not associated with improvement in the back pain score. After surgery, patients with unilateral leg pain had significantly greater improvements in function and leg symptoms than patients with bilateral leg pain.

Spine.    32(9):980-985, April 20, 2007.

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