A comparative study on short-term therapeutic effects of percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy and microendoscopic discectomy on lumbar disc herniation: Treatment of lumbar disc herniation

Objective: To find out the short-term effects of percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy (PTED) and microendoscopic discectomy (MED) on lumbar disc herniation (LDH).

Methods: Ninety LDH patients treated in PLA Army General Hospital from July 2015 to July 2016 were selected and randomly divided into an MED group and a PTED group. Length of incision, amount of intraoperative bleeding, surgical time, number of times using intraoperative fluoroscopy, postoperative bedridden time, hospital stay, together with visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry disability index (ODI) scores before surgery, three days, three months and six months after surgery were analyzed.

Results: As regards the length of surgical incision, amount of bleeding, postoperative bedridden time and hospital stay, the PTED group was significantly superior to the MED group ((P=0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.001, respectively)). Compared with the PTED group, the MED group used less fluoroscopy and had shorter surgical time (P=0.001, 0.000, respectively). The postoperative VAS and ODI scores of both groups were significantly improved compared with those before surgery (P<0.000, 0.000, respectively). The short-term postoperative low back pain (LBP) VAS score of PTED group was lower than that of MED group (P=0.001). The two groups had similar leg pain (LP) VAS score three and six months after surgery, postoperative and follow-up LP VAS and ODI scores, and surgical improvement rate (P=0.093, 0.097, respectively).

Conclusion: LDH was effectively treated by both PTED and MED. Compared with MED, PTED had less trauma, less blood loss, and faster recovery after surgery.