Symptomatic post-discectomy pseudocyst after endoscopic lumbar discectomy.

OBJECTIVE

The objectives of this study were to determine the frequency of symptomatic postdiscectomy pseudocyst (PP) after endoscopic discectomy and to compare the results of surgical and conservative management of them.

METHODS

Initial study participants were 1,503 cases (1,406 patients) receiving endoscopic lumbar discectomy by 23-member board of neurosurgeons from March 2003 to October 2008. All patients' postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were evaluated. On the postoperative MRI, cystic lesion of T2W high and T1W low at discectomy site was regarded as PP. Reviews of medical records and radiological findings were done. The PP patients were divided into two groups, surgical and conservative management by treatment modality after PP detection. We compared the results of the two groups using the visual analogue scale (VAS) for low back pain (LBP), VAS for leg pain (LP) and the Oswestry disability index (ODI).

RESULTS

Among 1,503 cases of all male soldiers, the MRIs showed that pseudocysts formed in 15 patients, about 1.0% of the initial cases. The mean postoperative interval from surgery to PP detection was 53.7 days. Interlaminar approach was correlated with PP formation compared with transforaminal approach (p=0.001). The mean VAS for LBP and LP in the surgical group improved from 6.5 and 4.8 to 2.0 and 2.3, respectively. The mean VAS for LBP and LP in the conservative group improved from 4.4 and 4.4 to 3.9 and 2.3, respectively. There was no difference in treatment outcome between surgical and conservative management of symptomatic PP.

CONCLUSION

Although this study was done in limited environment, symptomatic PP was detected at two months' postoperative period in about 1% of cases. Interlaminar approach seems to be more related with PP compared with transforaminal approach.