Efficacy of Transforaminal Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy in Elderly Patients Over 65 Years of Age Compared to Young Adults

OBJECTIVE: Spine surgery rates are increasing in the elderly population due to social aging, and it is known that prognoses related to surgery are worse for the elderly compared to younger individuals. However, minimally invasive surgery, such as full endoscopic surgery, is considered safe with low complication rates due to minimal damage to surrounding tissues. In this study, we compared outcomes of transforaminal endoscopic lumbar discectomy (TELD) in elderly and younger patients with disc herniation in the lumbosacral region. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 249 patients who underwent TELD at a single center between January 2016 to December 2019, with a minimum follow-up of 3 years. Patients were allocated to 2 groups: a young group aged ≤ 65 years (n = 202) or an elderly group aged > 65 years (n = 47). We evaluated baseline characteristics, clinical outcomes, surgery-related outcomes, radiological outcomes, perioperative complications, and adverse events during the 3-year follow-up period. RESULTS: Baseline characteristics, including age, general condition based on American Society of Anesthesiologist physical status classification grade, age-Charlson Comorbidity Index, and disc degeneration, were worse in elderly group (p < 0.001). However, except for leg pain at 4 weeks after surgery, overall outcomes, including pain improvement, radiological change, operation time, blood loss, and hospital stay, were not different between the 2 groups. Furthermore, the rates of perioperative complications (9 patients [4.46%] in the young group and 3 patients [6.38%] in the elderly group, p = 0.578) and adverse events over the 3-year follow-up period (32 patients [15.84%] in the young group and 9 patients [19.15%] in the elderly group, p = 0.582) were comparable in the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that TELD produces similar outcomes in both elderly and younger patients with a herniated disc in the lumbosacral region. TELD can be considered a safe option for appropriately selected elderly patients.