CT in low back and sciatic pain due to lumbar canal osseous changes.

In a consecutive series of 600 patients scanned by CT for various spinal diseases, those with low back and sciatic pain without disc herniation were selected for study. The causes proved to be joint facet degeneration (32 cases), stenosis of the neural foramina (13 cases), stenosis of the spinal canal (13 cases), lateral recess stenosis (6 cases) and spondylolisthesis (6 cases). The predominance of joint facet pathology as the underlying cause of low back and sciatic pain in the absence of disc herniation is confirmed. CT scanning of the soft tissues as well as of the skeletal structures is crucial to the aetiological diagnosis of the condition under study and hence to the proper planning of treatment.