Five-year outcomes and predictive factors of transforaminal full-endoscopic lumbar discectomy

Abstract

Although several studies have reported the effectiveness of transforaminal full-endoscopic lumbar discectomy (TELD), no cohort study on the long-term outcomes of TELD has been conducted. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the long-term clinical outcomes of TELD and to determine the factors predicting favorable outcome. Five-year longitudinal data of 204 consecutive patients who underwent TELD were collected. Outcomes were assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS) pain score, Oswestry disability index (ODI), patient satisfaction rating, and the modified Macnab criteria. The mean VAS score for leg pain improved from 7.64 at the baseline to 1.71, 0.81, 0.90, and 0.99 at postoperative 6 weeks, 1 year, 2 years, and 5 years, respectively (P