J Minim Invasive Spine Surg Tech.  2022 Oct;7(2):243-250. 10.21182/jmisst.2022.00570.

Comparative Study of the Outcomes of Unilateral Biportal Endoscopic Discectomy and Tubular Microdiscectomy Based on the Visual Analogue Scale, Oswestry Disability Index, and Short-form 36

• Kim S
• Park GJ
• Lee JU
• Kim KH
• Kim DH

• KMID: 2562143
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.21182/jmisst.2022.00570

Abstract

Objective
Unilateral biportal endoscopic (UBE) discectomy and tubular microdiscectomy (TMD) are widely practiced methods for treatment of lumbar disc herniation. Good clinical outcomes of these methods are reported in many papers, but there are a few comparative studies. This study reports the clinical outcomes of UBE and TMD as minimally invasive surgery methods for lumbar disc herniations and discusses the effectiveness of UBE.
Methods
Sixty-seven patients who had undergone single-level discectomy using one of two methods, UBE or TMD, underwent a prospective follow-up examination. Thirty-four of these patients underwent discectomy using UBE, and the remaining 33 patients underwent TMD. In addition to the traditional measures of outcome, the improvement of generic health-related quality of life and disease-specific measurements like Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score, Short-form 36 (SF-36), and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) were evaluated and compared.
Results
Sixty-seven patients with more than 6 months of post-operative follow-up evaluations were included. The mean improvements in the VAS scores for back pain and leg pain and ODI were 2.0, 3.7, and 26.5 for the UBE group and 1.6, 3.0, and 19.4 for the TMD group. The SF-36 physical health component subscale score improved from 35.4 pre-operatively to 54.8 at the last follow-up in the UBE group, and the mental health score improved from 43.5 to 55.1 (TMD group: from 34.9 to 54.3 and 44.2 to 57.1, respectively).
Conclusion
The clinical outcomes of the UBE group are comparable to those of the TMD group. The results indicate that UBE for lumbar disc herniation can be performed safely and effectively as a treatment modality.

Keyword

Endoscopy; Discectomy; Minimally invasive surgery; Tubular retractor