The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of three-dimensional (3D) fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition (3D FIESTA) in the diagnosis of lumbar foraminal stenosis (LFS). Fifteen patients with LFS and 10 healthy volunteers were studied. All patients met the following criteria: (1) single L5 radiculopathy without compressive lesion in the spinal canal, (2) pain reproduction during provocative radiculography, and (3) improvement of symptoms after surgery. We retrospectively compared the symptomatic nerve roots to the asymptomatic nerve roots on fast spin-echo (FSE) T1 sagittal, FSE T2 axial and reconstituted 3D FIESTA images. The κ values for interobserver agreement in determining the presence of LFS were 0.525 for FSE T1 sagittal images, 0.735 for FSE T2 axial images, 0.750 for 3D FIESTA sagittal, 0.733 for axial images, and 0.953 for coronal images. The sensitivities and specificities were 60 and 86 % for FSE T1 sagittal images, 27 and 91 % for FSE T2 axial images, 60 and 97 % for 3D FIESTA sagittal images, 60 and 94 % for 3D FIESTA axial images, and 100 and 97 % for 3D FIESTA coronal images, respectively. 3D FIESTA can provide more reliable and additional information for the running course of lumbar nerve root, compared with conventional magnetic resonance imaging. Particularly, use of 3D FIESTA coronal images enables accurate diagnosis for LFS.