Recurrence after successful percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy

The purpose of this study is to investigate the risk factors for recurrence after successful percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD). Recently, PELD has become the most common surgical technique. However, there are only a few studies on the factors causing the reappearance of the symptoms. Between January 2002 and December 2004, 42 patients with recurrent disc herniation after successful PELD were classified as a recurrent group and 42 patients who underwent PELD with a satisfactory result were randomly selected for a non-recurrent group. For all the patients, we analyzed the medical records and radiological studies retrospectively. The patients' mean age was 47.4 years (range: 18-76) in the recurrent group, while the mean age of the non-recurrent group was 34.4 years (range: 17-66) (p=0.001). The body mass index was 24.9 in the recurrent group and 22.9 in the non-recurrent group (p=0.006). On the radiological studies, the protrusion (p=0.013) and the presence of Modic change (p=0.003) were more frequent in the recurrent group. For the successful PELD, it is desirable for the surgeon to consider the above risk factors carefully.