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56. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e. V. (DGNC)
3èmes journées françaises de Neurochirurgie (SFNC)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e. V.
Société Française de Neurochirurgie

07. bis 11.05.2005, Strasbourg

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Minimally invasive surgical treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis: about 30 patients operated through a tubular retractor system

Meeting Abstract

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  • corresponding author P.-A. Faure - Service of Neurosurgery, CHRU of Limoges
  • J. J. Moreau - Service of Neurosurgery, CHRU of Limoges

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Société Française de Neurochirurgie. 56. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e.V. (DGNC), 3èmes journées françaises de Neurochirurgie (SFNC). Strasbourg, 07.-11.05.2005. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2005. Doc09.05.-02.01

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgnc2005/05dgnc0006.shtml

Published: May 4, 2005

© 2005 Faure et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Objective

The objective of this study is estimating the indications, the surgical technique and the outcome of 30 patients presenting a degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis operated by using a tubular retractor system.

Methods

It’s a retrospective study. The surgical method consists in using a tubular retractor system (METRx-MD system, Medtronic Sofamor Danek). Through this working space, it’s possible, by using the microscope, to decompress the lumbar stenosis by interlaminar way. A minimally invasive circumferential decompression is realized without laminectomy but simply laminotomy. These 30 interventions were realized by the same surgeon. Data recorded are: age, level of the lumbar spinal stenosis, initial clinical symptoms, operative time, pain in postoperative, consumption of narcotics medications, average length of stay, follow-up at 1 month and 6 months.

Results

The average length of stay is short (48 hours), the back pain is not important (visual analog scale averages=0,8). This can explain by the absence of invasive dissection, by the absence of muscle detachment and by the absence of use spacers which induce a muscular ischemia. About the post-operative results in 6 months, 94% of the patients are perfectly relieved of the symptoms for which the surgical indication was retained.

Conclusions

In the short-term, means and long-term, the less invasive treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis through a tubular retractor system shows excellent results. The immediate postoperative period is short and not very painful and this allows an earlier renewal of activity. This surgery is a future technique in order to reduce the costs of hospitalization and the costs induced by analgesics medications. This work must be continued in the long-term in order to evaluate lumbar spine stability after this surgery. This method makes it possible to avoid a lumbar pedicle fixation.