title: [Lumbar spinal stenosis: scientific evidence of surgical treatment].
abstract: In 2000, Nachemson and coll. published a book about modern treatment of spine related pathologies. They concluded that evidence regarding efficiency of surgical and non surgical treatments of lumbar spinal stenosis was poor. Despite this and the fact that the precise mechanism of pain is still unknown, surgical treatment of spinal stenosis, mainly consisting in a laminectomy, has made it through the years. More recently, higher quality scientific publications have brought significant evidence that surgery yields better short and long term functional results, than non surgical conservative treatment. This advantage might also compensate for possible internistic complications in a usually older and fragile population.
authors.affiliation: Service de chirurgie orthopédique et de traumatologie de l'appareil moteur, Département de chirurgie, HUG, 1211 Genève 14. antonio.faundez@unige.ch
authors.forename: Antonio Arturo
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Faundez
mesh_terms: D019299:Decompression, Surgical / Q000379:methods; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007796:Laminectomy / Q000379:methods*; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D013130:Spinal Stenosis / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome