A Retrospective Study of Percutaneous Endoscopic Interlaminar Discectomy for L5-S1 Calcified Lumbar Disc Herniation

Background: Calcified lumbar disc herniation (CLDH) is considered to be a special type of lumbar disc herniation (LDH). Percutaneous endoscopic interlaminar discectomy (PEID), with safety and efficacy, has been proved to be a minimally invasive surgery for LDH. However, there are few studies on PEID in the treatment of CLDH at L5-S1 level. This research aimed to analyze the clinical efficacy of PEID for L5-S1 CLDH.Methods: From August 2016 to April 2020, we retrospectively analyzed 28 consecutive patients (17 males; 11 females) with L5-S1 CLDH treated with PEID at our institution. All the patients were followed up for greater than 1 year postoperatively. The demographic characteristics, surgical results and clinical outcomes estimated by the visual analog scale (VAS) for leg pain, Oswestry disability index (ODI) and modified MacNab criteria were collected.Results: All patients were successfully performed by PEID. The mean operative time and intraoperative blood loss were 65.36 ± 5.26 minutes and 13.21 ± 4.35 ml, respectively. The VAS for leg pain and ODI scores improved remarkably from 7.54 ± 0.96 to 1.50 ± 0.51 (P < 0.05) and from 69.29 ± 9.91 to 17.43 ± 3.69 (P < 0.05) a year after operation, respectively. According to the modified MacNab criteria of the last follow-up, the excellent and good rates are 92.86%. Two of the patients had complications, one had nerve root injury and the other had postoperative dysesthesia.Conclusions: PEID achieved good clinical outcomes in the treatment of L5-S1 CLDH. And PEID was a safe and effective minimally invasive surgery for L5-S1 CLDH.