Twenty-seven patients with spinal stenosis all diagnosed at the surgical exposure and treated with decompression are analysed. The material is divided into three groups according to the preoperative symptoms, those with claudication, those with back and leg pains and those with mixed symptoms. All were myelographed. The radicality of the decompression varied. Excellent and good results were obtained in a total of about 60 per cent. No difference, however, was seen between the three groups. A positive myelography (AP diameter less than 11 mm) was found in all cases with excellent and good results. The postoperative extent of the decompression was studied with a CT-scanner. Here a correlation was found between the range of decompression of the lateral recess and the result of the operation. Also the results seemed to be better with a shorter duration of the symptoms preoperatively.