Clinical experience with automated percutaneous discectomy

Area of Science:

• Neurosurgery
• Minimally Invasive Procedures

Background:

• Lumbar disc herniation at L4/L5 and L5/S1 is a common cause of low back pain.
• Traditional surgical discectomy can involve significant morbidity and longer recovery times.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy and safety of automated percutaneous lumbar discectomy.
• To assess patient outcomes and complication rates associated with the procedure.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 21 patients with documented disc pathology at L4/L5 and L5/S1 underwent automated percutaneous lumbar discectomy.
• Follow-up ranged from 3 to 20 months, with 18 patients available for assessment.
• Procedures were performed under local anesthesia with an average hospital stay of 2 days.

Main Results:

• 12 out of 18 assessed patients (66.7%) reported improvement.
• Two patients required subsequent surgical discectomy.
• One procedure failed, with no other intra- or post-operative complications reported.

Conclusions:

• Automated percutaneous lumbar discectomy demonstrates low morbidity and can be performed effectively under local anesthesia.
• Careful patient selection is essential for optimizing successful outcomes.
• This technique presents a viable minimally invasive alternative for select patients with lumbar disc herniation.