Abstract
In our hospital, we classify the degree of spinal canal and intervertebral foramen stenosis on lumbar MR images into three categories. In this study, we investigated the correlation between stenosis score on lumbar MRI and epiduroscopic findings in seven patients with radiculopathy who underwent epiduroscopy. The levels of stenosis diagnosed from symptoms and neurological signs were not always consistent with the narrowest levels on MRI. Thus, it seemed difficult to accurately detect the level of stenosis by MRI. In lumbar imaging, regions evaluated as stenotic on epiduroscopy closely matched those on MRI.
It was difficult to identify adhesion and stenosis in the sacral epidural space on MR images, though they were often observed on epiduroscopy and epidurography. Our findings suggest that preoperative sacral epidurography is more useful than MRI for evaluation of the sacral epidural space.
