Percutaneous Endoscopic Transforaminal Lumbar Discectomy via Eccentric Trepan foraminoplasty Technology for Unilateral Stenosed Serve Root Canals

• Main Authors: Hong‐jun Zou, Yong Hu, Jin‐bo Liu, Jun Wu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2020-08-01
• Series: Orthopaedic Surgery
• Subjects: Eccentric trepan foraminoplasty technology; Lumbar spinal stenosis syndrome; PTED; Unilateral stenosed nerve root canals
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1111/os.12739
• ISSN: 1757-7853; 1757-7861

Objective To evaluate the clinical outcomes of percutaneous lumbar foraminoplasty for unilateral stenosed nerve root canals. Methods The article is a retrospective analysis. From May 2016 to April 2017, 32 patients with lumbar spinal stenosis syndrome (unilateral stenosed nerve root canals) were treated with percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal lumbar discectomy (PETLD). The study included 15 men and 17 women, with an average age of 53.8 ± 15.4 years, ranging from 24 to 78 years. The indexes used for preoperative and postoperative 1 day, 3 months, and final follow up were the visual analogue scale (VAS) for lumbar and leg, the Oswestry disability index (ODI), and the modified Macnab criteria. All patients were followed up for an average 6 months after the operation. Results The average operative time was 75.82 ± 10.58 min, the average blood loss was 15.83 ± 3.75 mL, and the average hospital stay after surgery was 6.2 ± 4.6 days. The VAS score (leg) decreased from 6.94 ± 0.50 preoperatively to 1.16 ± 0.45 at the final follow up (P < 0.05) and ODI were obviously improved, from preoperative evaluation of 80.19 ± 5.55 to 9.44 ± 1.16 at the final follow up (P < 0.05). However, the postoperative VAS score (lumbar) did not show an improvement, reducing from 1.78 ± 0.49 preoperatively to 1.62 ± 0.55 at the final follow‐up (P > 0.05). According to the modified Macnab criteria, the outcome showed that the excellent and good rate was 90.6%. There were three patients with hip soreness, and nerve root symptoms were relieved. Conclusion Percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal lumbar discectomy has a satisfactory clinical effect in the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis syndrome, especially for unilateral stenosed nerve root canals, and in decompressing the lateral recess and relieving the nerve root symptoms.