【Abstract】Objective To investigate the the clinical efficacy of surgery under the microscope and micro endoscopic in elderly lumbar spinal stenosis patients.Methods Ninety elderly lumbar spinal stenosis patients who were treated in the department of orthopedics in our hospital from June 2010 to June 2012 were chosen as the research objects.then they were divided into group A (cases=45)and group B (cases=45)by random number table,patients in group A was given surgery under the microscope,but patients in group B was given the surgery under the micro endoscopic,the clinical indicators of two groups was evaluated.Results There were no different between two groups in the operation time,intraoperative bleeding,postoperative length of hospital stay, postoperative average down time,postoperative complications and patient satisfaction(P>0.05).There were no different between two groups in visual analogue scale, JOA score and oswestry disability index before and after treatment(P>0.05).The visual analogue scale, JOA score and oswestry disability index were better after treatment than that before treatment(P<0.05),transfering rate of open surgery in group B was higher than that group A(P<0.05),the incision length in group B was shorter than that group A(P<0.05).Conclusion Microscopic surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis disease has no obvious "learning curve", it is more easy to adapt to the broader and clinical promotion,especially in grass-roots hospitals,therefore,under the same conditions, it has more advantage by microscopic surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis disease.