Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy via the medial foraminal and interlaminar approaches: A comparative study with 2-year follow-up

This study compares two minimally invasive surgical techniques for lumbar disc herniation (LDH): percutaneous endoscopic medial foraminal discectomy (PEMFD) and percutaneous endoscopic interlaminar discectomy (PEID). The aim was to assess the clinical effectiveness of PEMFD in treating LDH. PEID involves removing a portion of the ligamentum flavum (LF) to access the herniated disc, which can lead to bleeding and postoperative adhesions. PEMFD is a modified technique that aims to preserve the LF. The study found that PEMFD resulted in lower intraoperative bleeding and preserved the LF better than PEID, while both techniques had similar short- and medium-term clinical outcomes.

• 1
  Intraoperative bleeding and postoperative drainage were significantly lower in the PEMFD group compared to the PEID group.
• 2
  Numbness scores at 72 hours post-surgery and pain/disability scores at 1 month post-surgery significantly differed between the groups, but these differences were not sustained at 6, 12, and 24 months.
• 3
  There was no significant difference in satisfactory outcomes based on the modified MacNab criteria at the 24-month follow-up between the two groups.