OBJECTIVE: Currently, there is no established guideline on whether to opt for percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) or traditional transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) surgery based on specific types of lumbar disc herniation (LDH). Based on the Michigan State University (MSU) classification system, this study conducted a medium- to long-term follow-up analysis of two surgical methods over 5 years for the first time, aiming to provide empirical evidence to assist in making more informed decisions before surgery for LDH treatment.
METHODS: This was a retrospective study that included 273 patients with single-level LDH who underwent PELD or TLIF treatment at our hospital between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2018. Detailed metrics included preoperative and postoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) scores and Oswestry disability index (ODI) at 1-day, 1-week, 1-year, and 5-year follow-ups. Complications, recurrences, and 5-year postoperative modified MacNab criteria scores were also recorded. Statistical methods included independent sample t-tests, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), and χ2 tests.
RESULTS: Classified into seven groups according to the MSU classification, it was found that there was an improvement in the VAS and ODI scores at four postoperative follow-ups (p < 0.001). PELD showed better results than TLIF in reducing pain and improving the ODI scores in the classifications of 3B, 2B, and 2C (p < 0.05). TLIF demonstrated consistent superiority over PELD in 2A, 2AB, 3A, and 3AB classifications (p < 0.05). The total recurrence rate in the PELD group (11.05%) within 5 years after surgery was higher (p < 0.05) than that in the TLIF group (3.96%). These were mainly concentrated in the 2A, 2AB, 3A, and 3AB types. Moreover, the rate of excellent and good outcomes in the PELD was higher than in the TLIF but no significant difference (χ2 = 1.0568, p = 0.5895).
CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that PELD and TLIF may relieve LDH, but have advantages under different MSU classifications. The MSU classification has specific guiding significance and could aid in the surgical selection of PELD or TLIF to achieve optimal treatment outcomes for patients with lumbar disc herniation.

OBJECTIVE: Introducing a suture repair technology, endoscopic double line suture repair technique, for iatrogenic dural injury during Percutaneous Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy (PELD) surgery.
METHODS: A patient with dural injury and cauda equina herniation during PELD surgery was treated with endoscopic double line suture repair technique.
RESULTS: A patient with dural injury and cauda equina nerve herniation during PELD surgery was successfully treated using double-line suture technique. After the repair, no obvious cerebrospinal fluid leakage and cauda equina nerve re-herniation was seen. During the postoperative observation period, the wound healed well and there were no complications related to cerebrospinal leakage. During the follow-up period (1 year), the patient reported significant symptom relief and no complications.
CONCLUSIONS: This novel dural repair technology is safe and effective and can be used to treat dural injuries during PELD surgery.

UNASSIGNED: Lumbar disc herniation is a common degenerative lumbar disease with an increasing incidence. Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy can treat lumbar disc herniation safely and effectively with a minimally invasive procedure. However, the learning curve of this technology is steep, which means that initial learners are often not sufficiently proficient in endoscopic operations, which can easily lead to iatrogenic damage. At present, the application of computer deep learning technology to clinical diagnosis, treatment, and surgical navigation has achieved satisfactory results.
UNASSIGNED: The objective of our team is to develop a multi-element identification system for the visual field of endoscopic spine surgery using deep learning algorithms and to evaluate the feasibility of this system.
UNASSIGNED: We established an image database by collecting surgical videos of 48 patients diagnosed with lumbar disc herniation, which was labeled by two spinal surgeons. We selected 6000 images of the visual field of percutaneous endoscopic spine surgery (including various tissue structures and surgical instruments), divided into the training data, validation data, and test data according to 2:1:2. We developed convolutional neural network models based on instance segmentation-Solov2, CondInst, Mask R-CNN and Yolact, and set the four network model backbone as ResNet101 and ResNet50 respectively. Mean average precision (mAP) and frames per second (FPS) were used to measure the performance of each model for classification, localization and recognition in real time, and AP (average) is used to evaluate how easily an element is detected by neural networks based on computer deep learning.
UNASSIGNED: Comprehensively comparing mAP and FSP of each model for bounding box test and segmentation task for the test set of images, we found that Solov2 (ResNet101) (mAP = 73.5%, FPS = 28.9), Mask R-CNN (ResNet101) (mAP = 72.8%, FPS = 28.5) models are the most stable, with higher precision and faster image processing speed. Combining the average precision of the elements in the bounding box test and segmentation tasks in each network, the AP(average) was highest for tool 3 (bbox-0.85, segm-0.89) and lowest for tool 5 (bbox-0.63, segm-0.72) in the instrumentation, whereas in the anatomical tissue elements, the fibrosus annulus (bbox-0.68, segm-0.69) and ligamentum flavum (bbox-0.65, segm-0.62) had higher AP(average),while extra-dural fat (bbox-0.42, segm-0.44) was lowest.
UNASSIGNED: Our team has developed a multi-element identification system for the visual field of percutaneous endoscopic spine surgery adapted to the interlaminar and foraminal approaches, which can identify and track anatomical tissue (nerve, ligamentum flavum, nucleus pulposus, etc.) and surgical instruments (endoscopic forceps, an high-speed diamond burr, etc.), which can be used in the future as a virtual educational tool or applied to the intraoperative real-time assistance system for spinal endoscopic operation.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most popular imaging modality for investigating intervertebral disc herniation. However, it has a high chance for identifying incidental findings that are morphologically or structurally abnormal but not responsible for patients\' symptoms. Although a previous study suggested that 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) may help identify neuroinflammation in lumbar radiculopathy, there is currently no direct evidence obtained from surgery. Here, we describe the case of a 32-year-old man with low back pain and right leg paresthesia for 7 months. MRI demonstrated disc herniation at the L3-L4, L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels, causing bilateral L5 and left S1 root compression. 18F-FDG PET/MRI demonstrated increased 18F-FDG uptake at the right L5 root, which was compatible with the patient\'s symptoms. Transforaminal percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) was performed. Intraoperative images revealed a swollen nerve root at the right L5 after removal of the herniated disc. After surgery, the patient experienced immediate pain relief and had no recurrence at the 6-month follow-up. When performing PELD in patients with multilevel radiculopathy identified on MRI, the use of 18F-FDG PET/MRI can help in accurate localization of the symptomatic roots and minimize surgical incision and soft-tissue injury.

Recurrent lumbar disc herniation (rLDH) is one of the most serious complications and major causes of surgical failure and paralysis following percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD). There are reports in the literature on the identification of risk factors associated with rLDH; however, the results are controversial. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to identify risk factors for rLDH among patients following spinal surgery. PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched without language restrictions from inception to April 2018 for studies reporting risk factors for LDH recurrence after PELD. MOOSE guidelines were followed in this meta-analysis. We used a random effects model to aggregate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The evidence of observational studies was classified into high quality (class I), medium quality (class II/III), and low quality (class IV) based on the P value of the total sample size and heterogeneity between studies. Fifty-eight studies were identified with a mean follow-up of 38.8 months. Studies with high-quality (class I) evidence showed that postoperative LDH recurrence after PELD was significantly correlated with diabetes (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.14 to 2.31), the protrusion type LDH (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.02 to 2.61), and less experienced surgeons (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.10 to 2.16). Studies with medium-quality (class II or III) evidence showed that postoperative LDH recurrence was significantly correlated with advanced age (OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.19), Modic changes (OR, 2.23; 95% CI, 1.53 to 2.29), smoking (OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.71), no college education (OR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.05 to 2.31), obesity (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.11 to 2.47), and inappropriate manual labor (OR, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.33 to 3.59). Based on the current literature, eight patient-related and one surgery-related risk factor are predictors of postoperative LDH recurrence after PELD. These findings may help clinicians raise awareness of early intervention for patients at high risk of LDH recurrence after PELD.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the influence of irrigating fluid at different temperatures on patients\' body temperature and local inflammatory mediators during spinal endoscopy.
METHODS: 110 cases of intervertebral foramen surgery in our hospital from January 2019 to October 2021 were randomly divided into control group and observation group. Operations of both groups were performed by the same experienced chief physician. The observation group was irrigated with 37 °C constant temperature saline, while the control group was irrigated at room temperature. The effect was evaluated by monitoring the intraoperative temperature, postoperative VAS score and the levels of inflammatory factors, such as TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6 and IL-10 in drainage fluid.
RESULTS: After 30 min of operation, overall temperature of the control group dropped significantly, and 50 cases (90.9%) had hypothermia, P < 0.05. There was no significant difference in preoperative VAS score between the two groups P > 0.05. The VAS score of observation group was significantly lower than that of control group at 6 h and 1 month after operation, P < 0.05. At 0, 3 and 6 h after operation, the values of TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6 and IL-10 in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Isothermal flushing solution can reduce the incidence of hypothermia and effectively alleviate local inflammatory reaction.

Seipin, a protein encoded by the Berardinelli-Seip congenital lipodystrophy type 2 (BSCL2) gene, is famous for its key role in the biogenesis of lipid droplets and type 2 congenital generalised lipodystrophy (CGL2). BSCL2 gene mutations result in genetic diseases including CGL2, progressive encephalopathy with or without lipodystrophy (also called Celia\'s encephalopathy), and BSCL2-associated motor neuron diseases. Abnormal expression of seipin has also been found in hepatic steatosis, neurodegenerative diseases, glioblastoma stroke, cardiac hypertrophy, and other diseases. In the current study, we comprehensively summarise phenotypes, underlying mechanisms, and treatment of human diseases caused by BSCL2 gene mutations, paralleled by animal studies including systemic or specific Bscl2 gene knockout, or Bscl2 gene overexpression. In various animal models representing diseases that are not related to Bscl2 mutations, differential expression patterns and functional roles of seipin are also described. Furthermore, we highlight the potential therapeutic approaches by targeting seipin or its upstream and downstream signalling pathways. Taken together, restoring adipose tissue function and targeting seipin-related pathways are effective strategies for CGL2 treatment. Meanwhile, seipin-related pathways are also considered to have potential therapeutic value in diseases that are not caused by BSCL2 gene mutations.

UNASSIGNED: To detect the influences of postoperative out-of-bed activity restriction on recurrence rate, low back and leg pain, functional rehabilitation after percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD).
UNASSIGNED: In this research, 213 patients with lumbar intervertebral disc herniation (LDH) who underwent PELD were divided into the out-of-bed activity restriction group and out-of-bed activity non-restriction group. The visual analog scale (VAS) and Oswestry disability index (ODI) scores were used to evaluate postoperative clinical efficacy at 1 and 3 months after the operation, and to count the recurrence rates. All of these operations were performed between August 2017 and July 2020, and they were followed in the outpatient department for 12 months at least.
UNASSIGNED: Both of the groups showed significantly lower VAS and higher ODI scores at 1 month and 3 months post-operation, respectively, when compared with pre-operation. At 1 month after the operation, the restriction group performed lower VAS scores of low back pain compared with the non-restriction group, but this advantage disappeared at 3months post-operation. However, there was no statistical difference in the VAS scores of leg pain and ODI scores between the two groups, neither at 1 nor 3 months after the surgery. The recurrence rate is significantly lower in the restriction group than in the non-restriction group at a 12-month follow-up after the surgery.
UNASSIGNED: Out-of-bed activity restriction in the early postoperative period of PELD could reduce LDH recurrence effectively, and it may relieve the low back pain to some extent. It has no benefit in the recovery of leg pain and functional rehabilitation.

METHODS: Retrospective cohort study.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of time to first ambulation on recurrence after percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD).
METHODS: From July 2017 to August 2018, 90 patients with lumbar intervertebral disc herniation underwent PELD surgery. According to the initial walking time, i.e., the time until the patient could walk after the operation, the operations were divided into three groups: early stage, middle stage, and late stage. The follow-up period was 3 months, and complete follow-up data were obtained. The visual analog scale (VAS) and Oswestry disability index (ODI) scores before the operation, at first ambulation, 1 month after the operation, and 3 months after the operation and the recurrence and incidence rates of high magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal in the vertebral endplate area were recorded after the operation.
RESULTS: The success rate was 100% for these 90 cases. The VAS and ODI scores at the first ambulation after the operation significantly improved compared with those before the operation, and the difference was statistically significant. The improvements in the lumbar VAS and ODI scores of the middle- and late-stage groups were better than that of the early-stage group at 1 and 3 months after the operation, and the differences were statistically significant; however, there was no significant difference between the middle- and late-stage groups. The postoperative recurrence rate and rate of high MRI signal in the vertebral endplate area were significantly higher in the early-stage group than in the other two groups, and the difference was statistically significant.
CONCLUSIONS: The time to first ambulation after PELD is an important factor affecting the curative effect of the operation. Early ambulation may be one of the factors affecting recurrence after PELD.

UNASSIGNED: Although degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is increasingly being diagnosed in older people, there is much uncertainty about the appropriate operative treatment options. The objective of this study was to compare the outcome of percutaneous endoscopic lumbar decompression (PELD) versus fenestration for lumbar lateral recess stenosis (LRS) in geriatric patients over 75 years old.
UNASSIGNED: This prospective controlled study was performed on 46 consecutive over aged patients with lateral recess stenosis who underwent either PELD or fenestration. Clinical data were recorded before, 1 week, 3 months and 1.5 years after surgery using visual analog scale (VAS), Japanese Orthopaedic Association Score (JOA), The Short-Form-36 (SF-36), and the modified Macnab evaluation criteria.
UNASSIGNED: The patients\' mean age was 82.7 years (aged 75-93 years) in PELD group and 79.1 years (aged 75-88 years) in fenestration group. No statistical difference was found between PELD group and fenestration group with regards to VAS-back pain, VAS-leg pain, JOA and at 3 months and 1.5-year follow-up. However, the PELD group had a lower mean VAS for back pain at 1 week postoperatively (P<0.05). The quality of life in PELD group achieved the same remarkable improvement as fenestration group (P>0.05). Operative time (min) was similar between two groups (p>0.05), while the PELD techniques brought advantages in blood loss (mL) (48.3 vs 128.2, p<0.05), early ambulation (h) (5.5 vs 25.2, p<0.05), and anesthesia-related complications.
UNASSIGNED: Both PELD and fenestration showed favorable clinical outcomes for the treatment of lumbar lateral recess stenosis. In addition, PELD had advantages such as reduced traumatization and less anesthesia-related complications. In terms of quality of life and complications after operation, PELD under local anesthesia could be an efficient supplement to conventional decompression surgery in geriatric patients with lumbar lateral recess stenosis.