ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the patient selection, current treatment options, the technique for performing interspinous process decompression with the X STOP, as well as outcomes from clinical studies. Lumbar spinal stenosis had been first described in 1803 by Portal of France, who observed that narrowed spinal canals were associated with leg pain and atrophy. Spacers placed between the lumbar spinous processes represent a promising surgical treatment alternative for a variety of spinal pathologies. Intuitively, they provide an unloading distractive force to the stenotic motion segment and have the potential to relieve the symptoms of neurogenic intermittent claudication associated with spinal stenosis. A multicenter prospective, randomized controlled trial was performed in the United States comparing the outcomes of mild with moderate neurogenic intermittent claudication patients treated with the X STOP interspinous process decompression system to patients treated nonsurgically. The X STOP clinical outcomes are comparable to the results previously reported for patients who have undergone laminectomy.
