[Clinical signs of the narrow lumbar spinal canal (author's transl)].

The syndrom of the narrow spinal canal is today to be separated from other lumbar diseases by its nosological entity. It starts slowly and becomes manifest in middle and advanced age. Claudicatio intermittens is the characteristic symptom of this disease the aetiology of which is multifactory. Most patients show in the myelogram konstitutionell alterations combined with localized or generalized degenerative narrowing of the spinal canal. The clinical findings correspond to the lumbar segments affected. With localized narrowing the differential diagnosis of disc herniation is generally possible by myelography. This is of therapeutic consequence because in this cases a removal of the disc is unnecessary.