METHOD FOR ASSESSING DEGREE OF SPINAL CANAL RESTRICTION Russian patent published in 2015 - IPC A61B5/16 A61B5/55 

FIELD: medicine.

SUBSTANCE: method involves assessing the clinical presentation of the disease according to Oswestry Questionnaire and Swiss Spinal Stenosis Questionnaire filled by the patient; magnetic resonant imaging is used to measure the lumbar spinal canal parameters at the level of spines L1-L5; 6 linear values are measured on the produced axial sections at the level of the middle of the intervertebral disk and facet joints in the examined segment or segments: an anteroposterior diameter of a dural sac, a lateral diameter of the dural sac, an intrafacet distance, a depth of left and right lateral canals, a measured level of the spinal canal; a stenosis coefficient is calculated for the analysed segment, and if the derived stenosis coefficient is 0.19 and less accompanied by the assessment scales data of more than 61% and more than 80% respectively, a degree of restriction is considered to be pronounced and accompanied by the pronounced pain syndrome and disability; if the stenosis coefficient falls within the range of 0.20 to 0.24 with the assessment scale data of 41-60% and 61-79% respectively, a degree of restriction is stated to be clinically significant with pronounced pain syndrome and significant disability, whereas the coefficient of 0.25-0.29 and the assessment scales data of 21-40% and 40-60% respectively show probable restriction of the spinal canal with moderate pain syndrome and moderate disability; the coefficient of 0.30 and more with no clinical presentations testifies to the absence of restriction of the spinal canal.

EFFECT: method possesses high accuracy, information value and objectivity and enables determining the degree of restriction of the spinal canal taking into consideration the severity of the clinical presentations, and developing the further individual therapeutic approach.

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