The Surgical Outcomes Of Percutaneous Transforaminal Endoscopic Discectomy (PTED) And Microendoscopic Discectomy (MED) For The Treatment Of Lumbar DISC Herniation

BACK GROUND CONTEXT:Percutaneous Transforaminal endoscopic discectomy (PTED) and Microendoscopic discectomy (MED) are minimally invasive surgeries for management and treatment of pain caused by lumbar disc herniation due to nerve compression. This two procedures have high success rate and good outcomes than other surgical procedures.PURPOSE:The purpose of this study is to compare the surgical outcomes of these two minimally invasive procedures.STUDY DESIGN:A retrospective comparative study.PATIENTS:One hundred and sixty patients were selected for the study purpose on the basis of their physical, clinical and radiological presentation of lumbar disc herniation at a single site.METHODS:All the patients were divided into two equal groups (80 patients each) according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria; named as PTED Group and MED Group. All the patients in PTED Group went for PTED procedure and MED Group for MED procedure; all of the patients were followed and interviewed by telephone for their satisfaction, physical status and disabilities caused due to pain or other factors on the basis of SF-36, VAS, Macnab Criteria and ODI after surgery.RESULTS:After comparing all the variables of PTED Group and MED Group we have similar results. We found that these two methods have similar impacts on patient's quality of life and their daily physical works. We found that PTED group have more beneficial results than MED Group on the basis of hospital stay and early return to work.CONCLUSION:According to the study result we concluded that PTED method of surgery is an alternative to MED procedure with less blood loss, more beneficial outcomes, minimum muscle & bone trauma and cosmetically.