Clinical StudyOutcome analysis of lumbar endoscopic unilateral laminotomy for bilateral decompression in patients with degenerative lumbar central canal stenosis
Introduction
Degenerative lumbar central canal stenosis (DLCS) is caused by narrowing of the spinal canal. Typical symptoms of DLCS include low back pain and leg pain, which affect patients’ quality of life and drastically restrict functions. Among all spinal surgeries, DLCS is the most common etiology [1,2]. Numerous studies have indicated that surgical treatment results in better outcomes than conservative alternatives [3,4]. The traditional treatment option for DLCS is laminectomy [5]. The open method has good outcomes, but soft tissue violation is tremendous and may lead to iatrogenic instability [6]. Various studies have reported that limiting the extent of bony decompression or preserving posterior midline structures can result in better outcomes [7]. In addition, increasing efforts have been made to establish a solid fusion procedure. In a study on the 4-year results of the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial, authors reported that in patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis (DSL) and associated DLCS, no consistent differences in clinical outcomes were observed among different fusion groups [8]. Although fusion techniques provide proper stability to adjacent structures, through a randomized, controlled trial, Försth et al. reported that decompression surgery plus fusion surgery did not result in better clinical outcomes in comparison with decompression surgery alone [9]. Furthermore, decompression alone is more cost effective and is also associated with less operative time and blood loss [10]. Consequently, some less invasive approaches have been explored; for example, unilateral laminotomy for bilateral decompression (ULBD) has been proposed to be a less invasive technique for DLCS treatment compared with conventional laminectomy [11]. Satisfactory results for low back pain, lower extremity pain, and numbness in patients with DLCS treated with ULBD have been reported [12], [13], [14], [15].
Percutaneous endoscopic laminar discectomy (PELD) including percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal discectomy and percutaneous endoscopic interlaminar discectomy has been used for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation since 1975 [16]. Due to the advancement of instrument, lumbar endoscopic ULBD (LE-ULBD) by the uniportal, unilateral approach has been reported to achieve similar outcomes and with less complications than those achieved with open ULBD [17,18]. Moreover, LE-ULBD is associated with least traumatization and is the most minimally invasive method in comparison with conventional percutaneous discectomy. In this study, we investigated the outcomes of LE-ULBD and the feasibility of this approach for different types of DLCS, including simple DLCS, DLCS with DSL, and DLCS with degenerative scoliosis (DSC).
Section snippets
Study cohort and methods
We conducted this study in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Review Board (CYCH104113) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. We prospectively collected data pertaining to 116 patients with DLCS who underwent LE-ULBD at a spine center from April 2015 to June 2017. Patients undergoing LE-ULBD were selected based on the following inclusion criteria: (1) failure of conservative treatment with medication and
Results
Herein, we evaluated a total of 106 patients (44 men and 62 women, Table 1). The mean age of patients who underwent surgery was 69.5±9.6 years, and the mean follow-up period was 33.3±8.53 months. Among 106 patients, 40 (37.8%) had simple DLCS, 41 (38.7%) had DLCS with DSL, and 25 (23.5%) had DLCS with DSC. No patient presented with a combination of DSL and DSC. Fifty-five (48.1%) patients showed one-level stenosis, 47 (44.3%) showed two-level stenosis, and four (3.8%) showed three-level
Discussion
After the development of percutaneous lateral discectomy of the lumbar spine by Kambin and Gellman [31] in 1983 and that of percutaneous nucleotomy for lumbar disc herniation by Hijikata et al. [32] in 1975 with the use of a “nucleoscope” to visualize the intervertebral disc space by Hausmann and Forst [33] in 1983, the first case of endoscopic discectomy was finally described in 1988 [34]. Since then, percutaneous endoscopic surgery has become an alternative technique for spinal pathologies.
Conclusions
LE-ULBD shared the same indications with minimally invasive ULBD. Nonetheless, indications have widened considering the evolvement of surgical skills and novel instrumentation. Our study showed that LE-ULBD is a feasible treatment method for DLCS. Meanwhile, LE-ULBD did not result in worse outcomes in cases with DLCS with DSL or DLCS with DSC as compared to LE-ULBD for cases with simple DLCS. More studies are warranted to investigate detailed postoperative outcomes of LE-ULBD.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank to Ms. Sz-Ping Huang for assisting data collection, Miss Yi-Ching Lai and Ms. Yu-Yin Wei for assisting the language editing. This manuscript was edited by Wallace Academic Editing. The current study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of our medical institution (CYCH104113). Financial support from Taipei Medical University Hospital (106IIT01, MHW) are highly appreciated. The other authors had no conflict of interest.
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Author disclosures: MHW: Taipei Medical University Hospital (106IIT01) (C). PCW: Nothing to disclose. CYL: Nothing to disclose. YKL: Nothing to disclose. TJH: Nothing to disclose. CLL: Nothing to disclose. CHL: Nothing to disclose. YHH: Nothing to disclose.
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These authors contributed equally to this work.
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Corresponding author. Department of Orthopaedics, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, No. 539, Zhongxiao Rd, East Dist., Chiayi City 60002, Taiwan. Tel.: (88) 65-2765041.