SYMPTOMATIC LUMBAR STENOSIS FOLLOWING FUSION USING SUBLAMINAR HOOKS

A case of postfusion lumbar stenosis caused by the presence of sublami nar hooks is described. The patient was a 52-year-old man who 11 years previously had undergone lumbar fusion with Harrington rod instrument ation for a traumatic L-2 vertebral body fracture. Postoperatively, he developed progressive low-back pain, neurogenic claudication, and sig nificant lower-extremity weakness and atrophy. Upon radiological exami nation, he was found to have high-grade lumbar stenosis at the level o f the caudal sublaminar hooks. The instrumentation was removed and the area of radiological stenosis decompressed. Clinically, both the pati ent's pain and motor deficits resolved and, on postoperative imaging, the stenosis was relieved. Thus, despite other areas of persisting pat hology, it is concluded that the stenosis occurring at the level of th e caudal sublaminar hooks contributed to the patient's symptoms. Altho ugh not a common cause of postfusion stenosis, the presence of instrum entation in the proximity of neural elements must be considered as an etiology far neurological dysfunction.