[Full endoscopic I See technique for the treatment of single-segment degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis]

To investigate the clinical efficacy and advantages of the full endoscopic I See technique for the single-segment degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis.

The clinical data of 38 patients with the single-segment degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis treated by full endoscopic I See technique from January 2017 to March 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. There were 16 males and 22 females, aged from 35 to 79 years with an average of(53.45±12.56) years. Five cases were L_3,4, 23 cases were L_4,5, 10 cases were L₅S₁. The clinical efficacy was evaluated by VAS, ODI and Macnab scores.

All the patients were followed up for more than 12 months after operation. The length of operation was from 55 to130 (86.0± 17.5) min. Intraoperative blood loss was ranging from 10 to 50 (17±6) ml, and the hospitalization length was from 3 to 7 days with an average of 4.6 days. The VAS scores of low back pain assessed before operation, and 3 d, 3 months, 12 months post operation were 6.67 ±1.25, 3.87 ±1.35, 2.55 ±1.21, 2.05 ±0.97, respectively, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05);VAS scores of leg pain at these time points were 7.85±2.62, 3.31±1.42, 2.02±1.13, 1.85±0.86, respectively, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05);ODI scores were 40.32±5.38, 25.76±4.81, 12.66±4.64, 9.32±2.91, respectively, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Tevaluate the lumbar vertebrae function according to the Macnab criteria, 15 cases obtained excellent results, 19 cases were good, and 4 cases were fair.

Full endoscopic I See technique is effective in the treatment of single-segment degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis, with the advantages of less trauma, shorter hospital stay, and faster recovery.