Concurrent lumbar spinal stenosis and peripheral vascular disease. A report of nine patients.

Intermittent claudication from peripheral vascular disease is sometimes difficult to distinguish from neurogenic claudication secondary to lumbar spinal stenosis. Of 172 patients with symptoms of claudication and lumbar spinal stenosis proved by myelography or computed tomography (CT), nine had peripheral vascular disease identified with ultrasonography and arteriography. All of the nine patients had a laminectomy performed to decompress the narrow spinal canal, and two had an additional posterolateral fusion. Two patients were treated with an excision of their abdominal aortic aneurysm, while one of those patients later required a bypass graft for iliac stenosis. One patient had had an aortofemoral bypass graft, one a femoropopliteal graft, and one a lumbar sympathectomy. Follow-up study ranged from three to eight years, with an average of five years after their last surgical procedure. Paresthesias generally dissipated after the spinal surgery. The cramping-type discomfort associated with walking was not easily attributed either to vascular or a neurogenic etiology. Five patients had initial weakness, which invariably improved. A secondary etiology contributing to claudication must be excluded in those patients with persistent discomfort following previous lumbar spinal or vascular surgery for arterial insufficiency.