Two Portal Percutaneous Endoscopic Decompression for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Preliminary Study

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective. PURPOSE: To report the outcomes of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis treated with percutaneous endoscopic decompression, focusing on the results of clinical evaluations. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: There are no studies about two portal percutaneous endoscopic decompression in the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis. METHODS: Medical and surgical complications were examined and clinical results were analyzed for 30 patients who consecutively underwent two portal percutaneous endoscopic decompression for lumbar spinal stenosis were reviewed. The operations were performed by unilateral laminotomy for bilateral decompression. RESULTS: All patients displayed clinical improvement when were evaluated with visual analog scale (VAS) score of pain, Oswestry disability index (ODI) and Macnab criteria. The improvement of VAS and ODI was 8.3±0.7 to 2.3±2.6 and 65.2±13.7 to 24.0±15.5, respectively (both p<0.05). Complications were the same as for open decompression. The most common complication was transient nerve root paresthesia. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical decompression with two portal percutaneous endoscopic decompression has initial benefits, but long-term studies should pay more attention to the risks of postoperative instability and restenosis as well as the need for re-operation. Further investigations with long-term results are thus required.