Background Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar diskectomy is a good treatment modality for lumbar disk herniation. However, when a patient complains of bilateral lower limb radicular pain with severe disk protrusion at the L5–S1 level, the transforaminal approach is often unable to resolve both lesions owing to anatomical limitations. It is also very difficult to resolve both lesions in an ipsilateral direction using the percutaneous interlaminar approach. We report our surgical technique and clinical results using a ventral dural approach of percutaneous endoscopic interlaminar lumbar diskectomy for L5–S1 herniated nucleus pulposus (HNP) in patients with bilateral radiculopathy due to a severe disk protrusion.
Methods Twenty-seven patients with severe L5–S1 HNP complaining of back pain and bilateral lower limb pain were included in the study. The unilateral ventral dural approach of percutaneous full endoscopic interlaminar lumbar diskectomy technique was used. The visual analog scale (VAS) and Macnab criteria were used for clinical evaluation. All assessments were completed 1 day before surgery, 1 week after surgery, 6 months after surgery, and at final follow-up after surgery.
Results The mean preoperative back and leg pain VAS scores decreased from 5.67 ± 0.78 and 7.81 ± 0.83 to 2.44 ± 0.58 and 2.26 ± 0.53 at 1 week, 1.78 ± 0.51 and 1.52 ± 0.58 at 6 months, and 1.56 ± 0.70 and 1.67 ± 0.96, respectively, at the final follow-up after surgery. With respect to the Macnab criteria, 51.85% of the results were excellent, 44.44% were good, and 3.70% were fair. Four cases recurred: three patients underwent conservative treatment and one patient operated with percutaneous endoscopic interlaminar lumbar diskectomy.
Conclusion According to the results of this study, the ventral dural approach of percutaneous full endoscopic interlaminar lumbar diskectomy in patients with L5–S1 HNP associated with bilateral lower limb pain due to a severely protruded HNP is a good option for a minimally invasive surgical approach.
Test yourself question: a 19-year-old male presents with progressive distal lower limb pain
