Epidural Lipomatosis and Associated Spinal Stenosis-The Impact of Weight Loss: A Case Report

Abstract

Lumbar stenosis is a common radiographic finding that sometimes can be symptomatic. It usually results from a degenerative process of hypertrophic facets, ligamentum flavum hypertrophy, and disc involvement. A prominence of fat in the epidural space, epidural lipomatosis, can also be a contributing factor. This case report presents a 55-year-old man with radiographic improvement of epidural lipomatosis and stenosis from dietary weight loss. Given the rising obesity epidemic, practitioners should be cognizant of epidural lipomatosis and consider weight loss as a possible treatment option.

Keywords: back pain; complementary therapies; lipomatosis; spinal stenosis.

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.

Before and after axial T1 images on magnetic resonance imaging showing less epidural lipomatosis after a 39-pound (17.7 kg) weight loss from July 2013 to April 2015.

Figure 2.

Sagittal T1 images (closest images to midline) comparing from July 2013 (left) to April 25 (right) showing less epidural lipomatosis.