The shallow lateral recesses of the trefoil shape of the lumbar spinal canal have been implicated in the production of the spinal stenosis syndrome. In the present study, 485 skeletons of South African Blacks and Whites were examined in order to establish the incidence and possible genesis of the trefoil configuration. The overall incidence was 14 per cent, with little variation between the sex...

To assess the normal dimensions of the lumbar spinal canal, 100 normal healthy subjects of either sex between 25 and 45 years age were x-rayed for lumber vertebral column in both posteroanterior and lateral views and the canal was measured by Jones and Thomson method. The lumbar spinal canal showed constant dimensions in both sexes in all age groups when studied separately in the male and femal...

OBJECTIVE Lumbar spinal stenosis is a common degenerative spine disease that requires surgical intervention. Currently, there is interest in minimally invasive surgery and various technical modifications of decompressive lumbar laminectomy without fusion. The purpose of this study was to present the author's surgical technique and results for decompression of spinal stenosis. METHODS The auth...