Publication:

Functional outcome of patients with lumbar intervertebral disc herniation treated by minimally invasive microdiscectomy

Background The disorder lumbosacral radiculopathy affects the function of one or more lumbosacral nerve roots. The aim of this research is to understand the clinical and epidemiological features of patients diagnosed with disc herniation and treated at our facility using minimally invasive microdisectomy.

Methods From August 2021 to August 2022, we conducted a prospective research in the Department of Orthopedics at a tertiary care hospital in Pathankot. During the study period, all patients over the age of 18 who presented with complaints of leg or back pain, or other neurological symptoms supported by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) suggestive of disc herniation, were included. All patients were operated using a minimally invasive micro lumbar discectomy method.

Results The majority of patients had less than 100 mL of blood loss (75%) and 72% underwent surgery in less than an hour. Only one patient had an intraoperative cerebrospinal fluid leak and no patient had post-operative infection. It was observed that 81% were admitted for 5 to 8 days. Immediately post-operatively, we observed that 50% had good outcome on MacNab score and 9% had excellent functional outcome. At the final outcome at 6 months, 44% had good functional outcome and 47% had an excellent functional outcome. At the final outcome at 6 months, 44% had good and 50% had excellent functional outcomes.

Conclusions The findings of our study can aid us in budgeting and infrastructure planning for disc herniation patients. Long-term clinical outcomes in these individuals should be the focus of future study.