Clinical Analysis of the Ligament-Sparing Microdiskectomy for the Lumbar Disk Herniation

Jun-Hyeok Song

Copyright ⓒ 2000. Ewha Womans University School of Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Sep 30, 2000

Abstract

Objectives

The microdiskectomy was developed out of attempts to refine the classical lumbar laminectomy and diskectomy. The ligament-sparing microdiskectomy, a more refined technique, was developed by the author. For this study a series of patients, operated by the present author, were reviewed.

Methods

Consecutive patients admitted to Ewha Mokdong hospital between August 1997 and June 2000 who were to undergo virgin, unilateral single-level lumbar ligament-sparing microdiskectomy undergoing unilateral single-level microdiskectomies were included. The technique of the ligament-sparing diskectomy was described in detail.

Results

A total of 83 patients were operated on(M : F/63 : 21), with an average age of 37.2 years. Successful outcome was achieved in 78 patients(93.9%). Surgical complications included one wound infection and one reoperation for residual disk herniation.

Conclusion

The author believe that this technique is safe, can provide acceptable clinical outcome, and has an additional advantage of preserving the epidural fat.

Keywords: Ligament-sparing microdiskectomy; Lumbar disk herniation