Long-Term Results of Various Operations for Lumbar Disc Herniation: Analysis of over 39,000 Patients

Objective: To determine the long-term follow-up of the various operations for lumbar disc herniation in a large patient population. Subjects and Methods: Patients who had operations for lumbar disc herniation (microdiscectomy, endoscopic microdiscectomy and the ‘classical operation’, i.e. laminectomy/laminotomy with discectomy) were collected from the world literature. Patients who had follow-ups for at least 2 years were analyzed relative to the outcome. The outcome was graded by the patients themselves, and the operative groups were compared to one another. Results: 39,048 patients collected from the world literature had had lumbar disc operations for disc herniations. The mean follow- up period was 6.1 years, and 30,809 (78.9%) patients reported good/excellent results. Microdiscectomy was performed on 3,400 (8.7%) patients. The mean follow-up was 4.1 years with 2,866 (84.3%) good/excellent results, while 1,101 (3.6%) patients had endoscopic microdiscectomy. There, the mean follow-up was 2.9 years with 845 (79.5%) good/excellent results. The classical operation was performed on 34,547 (88.5%) patients with a mean follow-up period of 6.3 years, and 27,050 (78.3%) patients had good/ excellent results. These results mirror those with discectomy and the placement of prosthetic discs. Conclusions: The analysis of 39,048 patients with various operations for lumbar disc herniation revealed the same pattern of long-term results. Patients who had microdiscectomy, endoscopic microdiscectomy or the classical operation (laminectomy/ laminotomy with discectomy) all had approximately 79% good/excellent results. None of the operative procedures gave a different outcome.