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A 10-year follow-up study on long-term clinical outcomes of lumbar microendoscopic discectomy
1Department of Orthopaedics, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chong Qing, PR China.
Object:
The aim of this study was to determine the 10-year clinical outcomes of microendoscopic discectomy (MED), a surgical procedure for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation (LDH).
Methods:
A total of 151 patients with LDH were treated with MED and followed postoperatively for up to 10 years. The modified MacNab criteria were used to examine the clinical outcomes. In a subset of patients (n = 107), the disc-height ratio was measured radiographically according to the Mochida's method.
Results:
Based on the modified MacNab criteria, 120 (79%) patients were rated as excellent, 20 (12.9%) as good, 7 (4.6%) as fair, and 5 (3.5%) as poor. Only 5 patients (3.5%) required additional surgery due to a recurrence of herniation. Other complications included intraoperative dural lacerations (5 patients) and spondylodiscitis (3 patients). Mochida's method showed an average disc-height ratio of 76.25%. Approximately 67% of the patients were able to maintain their primary occupations.
Conclusion:
The 10-year follow-up study showed that the long-term clinical outcomes of MED are satisfactory and better than those of the traditional discectomy procedure. The MED procedure is both feasible and efficacious for the treatment of LDH.