Transforaminal Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy for Lumbosacral Junction Adolescent Lumbar Disc Herniation with High Iliac Crests

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical results of transforaminal endoscopic lumbar discectomy for lumbosacral junction adolescent lumbar disc herniation with high iliac crest. METHODS: From February 2014 to September 2020, a retrospective analysis of 96 patients less than 21 years old with intervertebral disc herniation was carried out. We enrolled 44 patients diagnosed with lumbosacral junction disc herniation with high iliac crest who required transforaminal endoscopic lumbar discectomy. Pain in the back and the lower extremity was scored on Numeric Rating Scales (NRS) scores. Patient outcomes were graded as excellent, good, fair, and poor using modified MacNab criteria. The NRS scores before and after the operation were compared using the Wilcoxon two‐sample test. RESULTS: There were 30 male patients and 14 females. One patient underwent repeat surgery for an intervertebral disc pseudocyst. The NRS scores decreased significantly in both early and late follow‐up evaluations (p < 0.05). At the last follow‐up, 42 patients (95.45%) had an excellent outcome, one patient (2.27%) had a good outcome, and one patient (2.27%) had a fair outcome. The overall success rate was 97.7%. CONCLUSION: This study's data suggest that targeted individualized foraminoplasty can effectively overcome the lumbosacral anatomical obstacles, and transforaminal endoscopic lumbar discectomy is an effective and valid option for lumbosacral junction adolescent lumbar disc herniation with high iliac crest.