Cervical spinal stenosis

Abstract

Cervical canal stenosis is defined as the narrowing of the duct that contains the spinal cord, the nerve roots and the vessels at the level of the C1-C7 vertebral segment, it can be a congenital or degenerative etiology. The incidence of this pathology represents between 1.07 to 3.5 per 1000 people, and most of the cases are degenerative type.

We present a case of a 71 year old male patient with no significant history, who presented a 3-year course characterized by neck pain with irradiation to the upper limbs and occipital headache, decreased strength and paresthesia as accompanying symptoms. Physical examination revealed pain in the spinous processes at the level of C3, C4, C5, C6 and active movements, positive bilateral Spurling test, a Glasgow neurological examination of 15, atony and atrophy of the upper limbs, Daniels scale 3/5 in all extremities and hyporeflexia.

The management of this pathology can be conservative or surgical depending on the progression of the disease. Regarding surgical treatment, the approach techniques are diverse: anterior, posterior or combined, according to retrospective studies the approach with the best results is the posterior, simple or fusion laminectomy, this technique is based on removing the vertebral posterior lamina increasing the anteroposterior diameter cervical spinal canal.