Lumbar endoscopic discectomy is a minimally invasive surgical method. Minimally invasive intervention is now widely used in all surgical fields, as a matter of fact, it is the first preferred method of surgical intervention, especially in some spinal diseases.
Less post-operative pain, less blood loss, shorter hospital stay, early return to normal life, especially less anatomical damage due to surgery compared to open surgery, made minimally invasive methods inevitable. These patients are suitable for fully closed lumbar hernia surgery. The surgery is done through a 0.5 cm incision in the skin. The procedure can be performed with local or general anesthesia. In the surgery, the technological infrastructure must be very good, since the procedure is performed closed, radiological and endoscopic imaging systems must be of high quality.
After the skin incision, the disc is reached with a needle under radiological imaging, then the disc is stained with a radio-opaque substance and then another dye that will identify the problematic disc in endoscopic removal. With this technique, only the herniated part of the disc is recognized and removed. The tube and camera, where the procedure will be applied, are advanced in the anatomical spaces in the spine and the herniated area is reached without damaging any tissue. Patients leave the operating room painlessly, walk and are discharged the next day. The return time to work is 3 weeks, except for heavy work. This technique, which can be applied in 60-70 percent of all lumbar hernia patients, can also be easily applied to overweight patients who are concerned in open surgery.
Since the damaged tissue is reached by using anatomical spaces in fully closed herniated disc surgery, the surrounding healthy tissues are not damaged.
The important advantages of this technique are that the hernia can be removed with the least damage, the loss of work power is minimized, the patient’s pain decreases rapidly after the surgery and he can start his daily life quickly. As a result, fully closed lumbar hernia surgery is an option where healthy tissues are not cut technically and therefore, the expectations after the operation are much better.
