BACKGROUND Open lumbar microdiscectomy (OLM) has been considered the gold standard in the management of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) for its favorable outcomes in long-term follow-up. Nowadays, percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) is gaining recognition. However, greatest limitation of studies of PELD is the lack of long-term follow-up outcomes. OBJECTIVE To investigate the long-t...

Microsurgery for lumbar herniated discs that require surgical intervention is a very successful and well-described technique, whether performed through more traditional "open" microsurgical retractors or through minimally-invasive "tube" retractors. Surgery for extruded lumbar disc fragments that migrate caudad or cephalad from the disc origin may typically require modifying the standard hemila...