Comparison of tissue damages caused by endoscopic lumbar discectomy and traditional lumbar discectomy: a randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the clinical efficacies of percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) and traditional open lumbar discectomy (OD).

Methods: The pre-operative and post-operative blood loss, hospital stays and wound sizes of the patients in the two groups were recorded. Enzyme-Linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the changes of interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP) and creatine phosphokinase (CPK) pre-operation and 1 h, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h and 48 h after corresponding surgery. Visual Analog Scale and Modified MacNab Criteria were used to assess post-operative results.

Results: Patients in the PELD group had less blood loss (p < 0.01), shorter hospitalization hours (p < 0.01) and smaller surgical wounds (p < 0.01) than the patients underwent traditional OD surgery. MacNab evaluated that the levels of satisfaction were above 90% in both groups post-operative six months. There was no significant difference in pain index between the two groups (p > 0.05). Furthermore, the levels of CRP, CPK and IL-6 in the PELD group were all lower than those in the OD group with a significant difference (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: The PELD had less damage to human tissues than the traditional OD. PELD has a clear promotional value in clinical.

Keywords: Damages; Lumbar discectomy; Open excision; Percutaneous endoscopic; Tissue factors.