CURRENT MINIMALLY INVASIVE SURGICAL TECHNIQUES IN NARROWED SPINAL CANAL

Lumbar spinal stenosis is a common condition in elderly patients and may lead to progressive back and leg pain, muscular weakness, sensory disturbance, and mainly problems with ambulation. Multiple studies suggest that surgical decompression is an effective therapy for patients with symptomatic lumbar stenosis. Although traditional lumbar decompression is a time honored procedure, minimally invasive procedures are now available which can achieve the goals of decompression with many advantages such as less bleeding, smaller incisions, little muscle distraction and quicker patient recovery. This paper will review the techniques of performing ipsilateral or bilateral decompressions using some microsurgical instruments (microscope, endoscope) and Kit (mild