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Roentgenographic study on ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament of the lumbar spine.

1988; Volume: 37; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5035/nishiseisai.37.639

1349-4333

Motohiro Noda, Shinya Kawai, Hirotsugu Oda, Minoru Saika, Kenji Kido, Nobuhide Shinjou, Mitsunori Shigetomi,

Cervical and Thoracic Myelopathy

Relatively few literatures have been reported about OPLL of the lumber spine compared with those of the cevical spine because of the comparatively low incidence of clinical symptoms of the lumber OPLL. 50 patients with OPLL of the lumber spine were studied roentgenographically, who had low back pain, lower limb pain, sensory disturbance and intermittent claudication.The type of ossification was classified into two types: 44 localized type and 6 continuous one. Furthermore they were divided into two groups according to clinical and roentgenographical findings: 10 cases were symptomatic OPLL and the other asymptomatic one. Generally, it is accepted that OPLL in the lumber spine rarely produces clinical symptoms. However, from this study 10 of 50 patients had clinical symptoms caused by OPLL. We emphasize that OPLL in the lumber region is one of the important factors producing clinical symptoms.