Comparative radiologic evaluation of percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy and open microdiscectomy: a matched cohort analysis.
BACKGROUND
Only a few studies comparing percutaneous endoscopic discectomy and open discectomy have been reported in the literature. The purpose of this study was to compare the radiographic changes in patients treated with percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) with those of patients treated with open lumbar microdiscectomy (OLM).


METHODS
A total of 30 patients who underwent PELD with a minimum three years of follow-up were randomly selected. To compare with the PELD group, 30 patients who underwent OLM during the same period were also randomly selected according to sex, age, and disc level. The clinical outcomes were evaluated by the Macnab criteria. Statistical analysis was performed using independent sample t-test, paired sample t-test, chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA).


RESULTS
The successful clinical outcomes were 96.7% in the PELD group and 93.3% in the OLM group. Among the various radiological parameters, changes of disc height (1.41 +/- 1.19 mm in the PELD group and 2.29 +/- 2.12 mm in the OLM group, p=0.024) and foraminal height (1.26 +/- 0.91 mm in the PELD group and 1.85 +/- 0.92 mm in the OLM group, p=0.017) were significantly different between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the clinical outcomes were similarly satisfactory in both groups, PELD is a less invasive procedure than open microdiscectomy in s elected cases.
Lee
Sang-Ho
SH
Department of Neurosurgery, Wooridul Spine Hospital, 47-4 Chungdam-dong, Kangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea.
Chung
Seung-Eun
SE
Ahn
Yong
Y
Kim
Tae-Hong
TH
Park
Jee-Young
JY
Shin
Song-Woo
SW
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017587:Diskectomy, Percutaneous; D004724:Endoscopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007403:Intervertebral Disc / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D008161:Lumbosacral Region / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011859:Radiography; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical; D016896:Treatment Outcome