AIM The authors compared the incidence of radiologically documented and/or symptomatic adjacent segment degeneration in and between patients who underwent anterior or posterior single-level, simple discectomy. MATERIAL AND METHODS 79 patients were clinically and radiologically examined for adjacent segment degeneration (ASD). The results were compared to evaluate which approach was predominan...

Lumbar discectomy is a very effective therapy for neurological decompression in patients suffering from sciatica due to a hernia nuclei pulposus. However, high recurrence rates and persisting post-operative low back pain in these patients require serious attention. In the past decade, tissue engineering strategies have been developed mainly targeted to the regeneration of the nucleus pulposus (...

Ongoing technological development combined with better understanding of endoscopic anatomy has made posterolateral endoscopic discectomy an appealing surgical option for the management of herniated lumbar disc. We evaluated clinical outcomes, complication rates, and surgical learning curve with the percutaneous posterolateral transforaminal endoscopic discectomy technique (PPTED). PPTED was per...

The study included a group of anterior cervical microdiscectomy without fusion performed at one level (either C5-C6 level or at the C6-C7 level) and a second group of patients with same single-level of anterior cervical discectomy with fusion. The kinematic analysis included the range of motion, anteroposterior translation and disc height assessed for the cervical functional spinal units at the...

OBJECTIVE We evaluated postoperative outcomes in patients who have lumbar foraminal or extraforaminal disc herniation (FELDH) and suggested the risk factors for poor outcomes. METHODS A total of 234 patients were selected for this study. Pre- and post-operative Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Korean version Oswestry Disability Index (KODI) were evaluated and the changes of both score were cal...

BACKGROUND Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy is a relatively new technique. Very few studies have reported the clinical outcome of percutaneous endoscopic discectomy in terms of quality of life and return to work. METHOD 55 patients with percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy done from 2002 to 2006 had their clinical outcomes reviewed in terms of the North American Spine Score (NAS...

Today, minimally invasive surgical approach in spinal surgery is increasingly becoming popular. Microdiscectomy has been gold standard since 1990. However, in certain centers endoscopic discectomy techniques started to be used. 13,14,21,22 Today, in East Asia, 30% of the discs are operated endoscopically. And this gives us the signals that the surgical method will change in the future. Transfor...

PURPOSE To compare the outcomes of microendoscopic discectomy (MED) versus open discectomy for lumbar disc herniation. METHODS 80 men and 32 women aged 26 to 57 (mean, 37) years with a single-level disc herniation were randomised to undergo MED (n=55) or open (fenestration/laminotomy) discectomy (n=57). Patients were assessed pre- and post-operatively (at week 6, month 6, and year one). The 2...

BACKGROUND Lumbar disc prolapse, protrusion, and extrusion are the most common causes of nerve root pain and surgical interventions, and yet they account for less than 5% of all low back problems. The typical rationale for traditional surgery is that it is an effort to provide more rapid relief of pain and disability. It should be noted that the majority of patients do recover with conservative...

STUDY DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analysis of comparative studies. OBJECTIVE To characterize the association of annular defect width after lumbar discectomy with the risk of symptom recurrence and reoperation. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Large annular defect width after lumbar discectomy has been reported to increase risk of symptom recurrence. However, this association has not been ev...