Posterior endoscopic cervical decompression: Review and technical note

Abstract

Endoscopic spine surgery for the treatment of degenerative spinal diseases from lumbar to cervical spine has accelerated over the past 2 decades. Posterior endoscopic cervical discec-tomy (PECD) has been described as a safe, effective, and minimally invasive procedure for cervical radiculopathy or even part of the myelopathy. This procedure also has been validat-ed with comparable outcomes to open and microscopic surgery. Radiculopathy due to fo-raminal disc herniation or foraminal stenosis should be the optimum indications of this procedure. Intraoperative 3-dimensional navigation can help surgeons to get quick and great quality guidance for endoscopic surgeons. In this review, we will focus on the technical details and evidence-based results of PECD which is a promising procedure for cervical radiculopathy with the advantages of a minimally invasive method.