Study design:

Retrospective study.

Objectives:

To compare the clinical efficacy and post-operative MRIs of minimally invasive (MI) and open (O) transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) in the treatment of CES caused by lumbar disc herniation.

Methods:

116 patients with CES associated with disc herniation underwent decompression and stabilization surgery from January 2005 to January 2020 in a single-center, and data were collected and retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into the Open-TLIF and the MI-TLIF group. The perioperative clinical data and MRI assessment were used to assess the efficacy of the respective surgical methods pre-operatively and with a minimum follow-up of 30 months.

Results:

As expected, the O-TLIF group had statistically significantly longer surgery times and hospital stay, more bleeding and perioperative surgical complications than the MI-TLIF group. At a minimum follow-up period of 30 months, the MI-TLIF group had significantly better ODI, VAS, SF-36 and neurological CES symptoms than the Op-TLIF group. The postoperative MRIs revealed a statistically significant difference in the multifidus muscle area in MI group compared to the Open group.

Conclusion:

In patients with acute CES caused by disc herniation, minimally invasive TLIF, with decreased disruption of paravertebral tissues and postoperative pain syndrome, results in earlier mobilization and rehabilitation with better long-term clinical outcomes compared to open TLIF.