My mom is 68. basically healthy except for severe back/leg pain. has has mri that shows stenosis. has severe scoliosis curve.recommend fusion?

Sounds right: A better way to think of this is she has leg pain from a pinched nerve that needs to needs to be unpinched for more leg comfort , in the setting of deformity decompression may need a fusion to hold shape and spacing to keep the nerve unpinched after bone is removed to unpinch the nerve decompression at any rate leg pain is a good target symptom for this type of surgery meaning generally effective.

Spinal Stenosis: 60% of patients respond to physical therapy, specifically traction. 30% respond to meds, including oral and injected steroids. 10% require surgery when pain is intractable and failed to respond to the other treatments. The severity of the stenosis can be predictive for the need for surgery. A pm&r doc or spine specialist should be able to determine if surgery is appropriate.