Intraobserver and interobserver reliability of the Landim's Classification System for lumbar spinal stenosis

OBJECTIVE: the Classification proposed by Landim for lumbar spine stenosis could be a method of diagnostic standardization once, on the literature, there are no studies that standardize the use of a classification which allows the comparison of results. It is necessary the evaluation of intra and interobservers' reproducibility for such system as to validate it for this matter. METHODS: pre-operative image exam of lumbosacral column of 11 patients diagnosed with symptomatic lumbar stenosis were selected. The criteria for selection were image exams with good quality and diverse etiologies. The age group ranged from 15 to 87 years and included both sexes. The studied samples were followed at the Ambulatory of Spine Column of the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology of the Hospital das Clínicas, Universidade de Campinas (Unicamp), city of Campinas, state of São Paulo, Brazil. Twelve spine surgeons classified the 11 sample exams according to Landim's Classification in two different moments with a time interval of 3 weeks. The intra and interobservers' statistical analysis used were the Wilcoxon and the Alpha of Cronbach Tests, respectively. Significant results were considered as P