Objective:

To analyze the clinical efficacy and technical characteristics of percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discecomy in the treatment of upper lumbar disc herniation.

Methods:

The clinical data of 9 patients with upper lumbar disc herniation underwent percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discecomy from January 2012 to October 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 6 males and 3 females, aged 26 to 79 years, including 2 patients with L_1,2 disc herniation and 7 patients with L2, 3 disc herniation. Visual analogue scale (VAS) and Japanese Orthopeadic Association (JOA) score were recorded before and after surgery. The clinical efficacy was evaluated according to the modified Macnab standard.

Results:

All 9 patients were followedup, and the follow-up time was 1 day and 3 months after surgery. The operation time was 1.5 to 2.9 h and postoperative hospital stay was 5 to 8 d. No cerebrospinal fluid leakage or spinal cord injury occurred during the operation. Preoperative and postoperative at 1 day, 3 months, the VAS scores of 9 patients were 7 to 8 scores, 1 to 3 scores, 0 to 1 case, JOA scores were 5 to 7 scores, 15 to 24 scores, 21 to 26 scores, respectively. The improvement rate of JOA was 36.4% to 78.3% on the first day and 65.2% to 87.5% three months after operation. According to modified Macnab standard to evaluate effect, 4 cases got excellent results, 4 good, 1 fair.

Conclusion:

Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discecomy has reliable therapeutic effect for upper lumbar disc herniation in line with the indications, and it has the characteristics of small trauma and short operation time, so it is more suitable for middle aged and elderly patients with poor physique and can replace part of transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion.