Abstract
Recently, microendoscopic surgery has been widely adopted for minimally invasive surgery of the spine. Our hospital has actively adapted microendoscopic surgery for lumbar disc herniation and lumbar spinal canal stenosis since 2008.
We investigated the short-term results of microendoscopic surgery in 54 patients who underwent the procedure between May 2008 and July 2009. There were 20 cases of lumbar disc herniation, and 34 cases of lumbar spinal canal stenosis. The duration of surgery, blood loss, complications, and rates of improvement in the JOA score, along with a visual analog scale (VAS), and the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RDQ) were investigated. Furthermore, we evaluated the utility of microendoscopic surgery using the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) because of the possible connection of the mental factor with pain. The results showed that the mean duration of surgery was 129 minutes, mean blood loss was 22 ml, and that 3 cases had complications. The mean JOA score, VAS, RDQ, and SDS improved, and the mean JOA improvement rate was 86.9%. While the short-term results were satisfactory, we conclude that the long-term results require careful attention.
