Microendoscopic and conventional discectomies for lumbar disc herniation in the aged patients

Objective To study the characters of the lumbar disc herniations in the aged patients and surgical selection between microendoscopic and conventional discectomies.Methods 175 aged patients who received surgical operations for lumbar disc herniation were retrospectively analyzed.93 patients were undergone microendoscopic diskectomy,82 patients by conventional diskectomy.Results 147 patients were followed up for 4.3 years.The results were evaluated using modified MacNab′s criteria,and were graded as excellent and good in 34 patients (89.5%) with microendoscopic and 60 patients (87.0%) with conventional diskectomy respectively.The results was similar by Ridit analysis.Conclusions Microendoscopic diskectomy is an alternative operation for the localized lumbar disc herniation in the aged patients,and it is of great benefit to early rehabilitation in the aged patients because of its minimal invasion.