Percutaneous Laser Discectomy for Lumbar Disc Herniation

Percutaneous laser discectomy (PLD) is a safe, simple and minimally invasive procedure for lumbar disc herniation. Early therapeutic results were evaluated for 10 patients with lumbar disc herniation treated by PLD. The improvement rate of PLD according to JOA scroe was more than 75% in 3 patients, 74 to 50% in 5 and less than 49% in 2 at least 3 months after PLD, giving an overall success rate of 80%. There was no significant difference in clinical data and total irradiated energy between successful (8 patients) and unsuccessful (2 patients) groups. However, the age of 3 patients who obtained excellent results was under 40 years old.