Patient Outcomes After Minimally Invasive Excision of Lumbar Synovial Cysts, With and Without a Spondylolisthesis, in an Ambulatory Care Center Setting

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Left—view through tubular retractor of laminotomy. Right upper—initiation of dissection of the ligamentum flavum from the dura using an angled curette. The safe zone is the area where the left and right ligaments oppose. Right middle—after dissection with a curette to ensure adhesions are lysed, the ligament is removed piecemeal with a rongeur. Right lower—the thecal sac and descending are mobilized and protected prior to cyst removal.

Table 1

Patient variables and outcomes (N = 117).

Variable	Mean (SD) or n	Min	Max
Follow-up, d	126 (64)	90	387
Men	63
Women	54
Age, y	59 (11)	28	91
Body mass index	31 (6)	19	51
Smoker	23
Prior surgery at index level	12
Estimated blood loss, mL^{^a}	52 (101)	5	950
Length of surgery, min	72 (35)	26	215
Postoperative dismissal time, min	123 (36)	69	294
Perioperative complications^{^b}	0
30-d readmission	0
Subsequent lumbar spine fusion	0
VAS score
Preoperative	6.2 (2.3)
Postoperative	3.1 (2.8)
∆	3.1^{^c}
Reduction	50%
ODI
Preoperative	46.7 (13.5)
Postoperative	24.7 (19.0)
∆	22.0^{^c}
Reduction	47%

Table 2

Patients followed for more than 1 y (N = 48).

Variables	Outcomes
Follow-up, mo, mean	15
Men, n	25
Women, n	23
Age, y, mean	62
Body mass index, mean	30
Smoker, n	5
Nonsmoker, n	43
Spondylolisthesis present, n	23
Spondylolisthesis absent, n	25
Length of surgery, min, mean	73
VAS score, mean
Preoperative	5.8
Postoperative	2.8
Δ	3.0^{^a}
Reduction	50%
ODI, mean
Preoperative	46.8
Postoperative	24.3
Δ	22.5^{^a}
Reduction	48%

Table 3

Spondylolisthesis outcomes followed for more than 1 y (15 mo mean follow-up).