Comparative Study of the Outcomes of Percutaneous Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy and Microscopic Lumbar Discectomy Using the Tubular Retractor System Based on the VAS, ODI, and SF-36.

Objective Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) and microdiscectomy with the microscope endoscopic tubular retractor system(METRx-MD) are considered popular minimally invasive surgery (MIS) methods for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation. Many authors have also reported good clinical outcomes of these methods, but there are few comparative studies of them. This report compares the clinical outcomes of PELD and METRx-MD for lumbar disc herniation as MIS methods and discusses the efficacy of PELD.