Cervical Spine Stenosis

Question 1

What does spinal stenosis refer to?

Answer 1

narrowing of the spinal canal or intervertebral foramina

Question 2

What are the majority of spinal stenosis cases caused by?

Answer 2

degenerative change (spondylosis)

Question 3

Spinal stenosis presents with increasing frequency in the __ and __ decades of life

Answer 3

6th and 7th

Question 4

What initiates the change in degenerative spinal stenosis?

Answer 4

desiccation of the intervertebral discs

Question 5

What is the result of disc desiccation and loss of disc height?

Answer 5

The facet joints and ligamentum flavum, become increasingly involved in axial load bearing which results in compensatory bony and ligamentous hypertrophy and osteophyte formation, which narrows both the diameter of the central spinal canal and the neural foramina.

Question 6

What are the 2 clinical presentations of cervical spine stenosis?

Answer 6

• Polyradiculopathy

- Myelopathy

Question 7

What does polyradiculopathy present as?

Answer 7

• Arm pain
• Paresthesias
• Weakness
• Sensory loss

Question 8

What does myelopathy present as?

Answer 8

• Leg weakness
• Gait difficulty
• Incontinence of bowel or bladder

Question 9

Is polyradiculopathy of myelopathy considered a medical emergency?

Answer 9

myelopathy

This may require urgent decompressive surgery

Question 10

When are electrodiagnositc studies required?

Answer 10

when the clinical presentation is ambiguous

Question 11

What 2 imaging techniques can help to diagnose spinal stenosis?

Answer 11

MRI and CT