Abstract
Background: Endoscopic spinal surgery is increasingly popular because it minimizes access trauma and hastens recovery from the intervention. Objective: To assess the clinical outcomes and complication rates of full-endoscopic disc surgery compared to the microsurgical standard procedures. Methods: A PubMed and Embase search was performed, considering entries up to January 2013. Only 5 controlled trials of 504 articles could finally be considered for evaluation. Results: Overall, the endoscopic techniques had shorter operating times, less blood loss, less operative site pain, and faster postoperative rehabilitation / shorter hospital stay / faster return to work than the microsurgical techniques. All 5 studies had fewer complications with the endoscopic technique. Conclusions: The studies show that full-endoscopic disc surgery can achieve the same clinical results in symptomatic cervical and lumbar disc herniations as the microsurgical standard techniques.
Highlights
Neuropathic pain originating from spinal disc herniations is a very common problem
This review focuses exclusively on modern, full-endoscopic disc surgery irrespective of the specific access technique and irrespective of the spinal region
There were no significant differences in the main clinical outcome criteria between the endoscopic and the microsurgical techniques in any of the trials
Summary
Neuropathic pain originating from spinal disc herniations is a very common problem. The majority of disc surgeries are performed to alleviate this pain once conservative measures and targeted injections have failed. Endoscopic spinal surgery is increasingly popular because it minimizes access trauma and hastens recovery from the intervention. This clinically oriented review evaluates controlled studies that investigate the clinical results and the complications of full-endoscopic lumbar and cervical procedures for symptomatic disc herniations in comparison to a microsurgical standard procedure. This review focuses exclusively on modern, full-endoscopic disc surgery irrespective of the specific access technique (e.g., interlaminar vs transforaminal) and irrespective of the spinal region
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