Spinal canal. (a) Normal spinal canal. The central portion of the spinal canal is bordered laterally by a lateral recess, dorsally by a vertebral arch and ventrally by a vertebral body and discs. The lateral recess is bordered laterally by a pedicle, dorsally by a superior articular facet and ventrally by a vertebral body and discs. The foraminal space is bordered by cephalad and caudal pedicles and facet joints dorsally and a vertebral body and discs ventrally. The extraforaminal space is lateral to the neuroforamen. (b) Spinal canal stenosis. There are four major causes of degenerative spinal canal stenosis: disc herniation, hypertrophic facet joint osteoarthrosis, ligamentum flavum hypertrophy and degenerative spondylolisthesis
Irina Nefedova
CC BY 4.0
Kushchayev, S.V., Glushko, T., Jarraya, M. et al. ABCs of the degenerative spine. Insights Imaging 9, 253–274 (2018). <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13244-017-0584-z">https://doi.org/10.1007/s13244-017-0584-z</a>