Treating lumbar spinal canal stenosis by injecting insoluble particles.

Lumbar spinal stenosis is a common indication for surgical intervention. Although traditional "open" surgical decompression or minimally invasive decompression are well proven and successful, its inherent approach morbidity cannot be avoided (massive trauma, spondylolisthesis, nerve root adhesion, dural laceration). Many studies on wear-mediated osteolysis have demonstrated that wear debris can initiate the release of cytokines and other inflammatory mediators, which stimulates increased osteoclastic activity and focal bone resorption at the bone-implant interface. Therefore we hypothesize that the decompression can be achieved by injecting insoluble particles into the epidural space, initiating the surrounding biological reaction and focal bone resorption. If the hypothesis is verified, spinal canal stenosis will be treated nonsurgically and furthermore a new nonsurgical bone resection technique will be invented.