2.1 | Subjects
The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Nanjing Medical University. From April 2018 to July 2019, 21 patients with degenerative LSCS underwent posterior decompressive laminectomy were recruited into this study. The diagnosis of LSCS was based on both clinical symptoms and radiological examinations. The inclusion criteria was as follows: age between 55 and 70 years; L4/5 level stenosis; LF hypertrophy confirmed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Nevertheless, patients coexisting with other diseases such as spinal tuberculosis, scoliosis, and skeletal dysplasia were excluded. The non-hypertrophied LF used in the study were obtained from age-matched patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH) underwent the surgery of posterior laminectomy. The MRI was used to confirm that the LF was non-hypertrophic in this group. Informed consent was obtained from every patient prior to be enrolled in this study. The surgery was undertaken by three experienced specialists of spinal surgery in the author’s hospital. The detailed characteristics of patients involved in this study were all summarized in Table 1.