[The long-term evaluation of treatment for the lumbar disc herniation with the modified Love operation].
OBJECTIVE
To explore the long-term outcome of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) after the treatment with modified mini-invasive Love operation.


METHODS
From January 1995 to December 2000, 373 patients suffered from LDH underwent the modified mini-invasive Love operation. There were 250 male and 123 female patients aged from 11 to 77-years-old (with a mean of 45.0-years-old). Most patients complained of sciatica accompanying back pain. The lesion level included L3,4 in 11 patients, L4,5 in 159 patients, L5-S1 in 195 patients and L4,5 combined with L5-S1 in 8 patients.


RESULTS
The average operative duration was 65 min. The average blood lose was 22 ml. The average incision length was 3.2 cm. Till September 2005, 317 patients were available at the final follow-up during the period from 5 years and a half to 10 years and 5 months. The average duration of follow-up was 7 years and 8 months. A total of 135 patients underwent the CT discogram. According to the modified Roland-Morris Dysfunction Questionnaire, 198 patients were rated as excellent, 68 as good, and 51 as fair. The excellent rate was 84.0%. The scores for young patients were higher than senile patients. Herniation recurrence occurred in 10 patients (3.2%), in which 7 patients underwent the operation of internal fixation and 1 patient preferred the conservative treatment. One patient got the spondylolisthesis.


CONCLUSIONS
The long-term outcome of the modified mini-invasive Love operation is effective. It is a good choice for the LDH patients.
Li
Nan
N
Department of Spinal Surgery, the Fourth Teaching Hospital of Peking University (Beijing Jishuitan Hospital), Beijing 100035, China.
Tian
Wei
W
Zhang
Gui-lin
GL
Liu
Bo
B
Li
Qin
Q
Li
Zhi-yu
ZY
He
Da
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D017586:Diskectomy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000601:surgery*; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D008297:Male; D008866:Microsurgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome