Unilateral Biportal Endoscopic Discectomy versus Percutaneous Endoscopic Interlaminar Discectomy for Lumbar Disc Herniation

Wen-Bo Wei; Sha-Jie Dang; Hao-Zhe Liu; Da-Peng Duan; Ling Wei

doi:10.2147/JPR.S449620

Unilateral Biportal Endoscopic Discectomy versus Percutaneous Endoscopic Interlaminar Discectomy for Lumbar Disc Herniation

J Pain Res. 2024 May 14:17:1737-1744. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S449620. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Wen-Bo Wei^#^{1

2

3}, Sha-Jie Dang^#⁴, Hao-Zhe Liu⁵, Da-Peng Duan^{1

2}, Ling Wei⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopedics, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
² Shaanxi Province Key Laboratory of Basic and Clinical Translation for Bone and Joint Diseases, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
³ State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Department of Anesthesia, Shaanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Department of Surgery, Hancheng Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Hancheng, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
⁶ Department of Pain, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: As the latest endoscopic spine surgery, percutaneous endoscopic interlaminar discectomy (PEID) and unilateral biportal endoscopic (UBE) discectomy have distinct technical characteristics. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of PEID and UBE discectomy in the treatment of single-level lumbar disc herniation (LDH).

Methods: Between February 2019 and April 2022, 115 patients with single-level LDH at L4-5 or L5-S1 received PEID or UBE discectomy. The patients were separated into two groups based on the surgical method used: Group 1 (the PEID group) (n = 60) and Group 2 (the UBE group) (n = 55). Various parameters, including operative time, hospitalization time, fluoroscopy frequency, total costs, complications, visual analogue scale (VAS), and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), were evaluated and compared between the two groups.

Results: There were no significant differences in the VAS and ODI scores in 12 months after the operation between two groups (P > 0.05). However, the VAS of lower back pain on the first day after the operation in Group 2 (2.53±0.89) was higher than that in Group 1 (2.19±0.74) (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in the operation time and incidence of complications between two groups (P > 0.05). But total costs in Group 2 (43,121±4280) were significantly higher than those in Group 1 (30,069±3551) (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Both UBE and PEID procedures have similar efficacy in alleviating pain and improving functional ability in patients with LDH. However, UBE surgery results in higher costs than PEID surgery.

Keywords: lumbar disc herniation; percutaneous endoscopic interlaminar discectomy; unilateral biportal endoscopic discectomy.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Innovation Ability Strong Base Plan-Medical Research Project of Xi’an Science and Technology Bureau in 2022 (No.: 22YXYJ0155).