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Researchers identify cut-off age for percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy
In a recently published retrospective cohort study, researchers determined patients who are 57 years of age or older who underwent a percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy have higher rates of reoperation than patients younger than 57 years.
The researchers evaluated 12,816 patients who underwent open discectomy and 3,001 patients who underwent percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) in 2003 from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) database. Patients were followed until Dec. 31, 2008, and the minimum follow-up period was 5 years. Researchers defined an endpoint as any second lumbar spine surgery during follow-up.
The data indicated PELD patients aged 57 years and older had a higher reoperation risk during the postoperative 3.4-year follow-up.
“In the present study, we showed that PELD for elder patients (≥57 years) had a higher reoperation rate, especially during the postoperative 3.4 years. Interestingly, the risk of reoperation was not higher after PELD for patients younger than 57 years and was lower than open surgery from 1.9 years after PELD,” the researchers wrote in their study.
The researchers concluded reoperation risks are higher for patients who are 57 years of age or older and physicians need to be cautious about using PELD for this age group. – by Robert Linnehan
Disclosure: The researchers reported the study was supported by the Health Connect grant funded by the SK Telecom (No. 0620140720 (2014-0695)) (C.H.K.) and by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No. 2010-0028631) (C.K.C.).