Abstract

Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) in the treatment of far lateral disc herniation was introduced in 1997 in our institution by our late colleague Dr. Schumacher. Since then nearly 200 procedures are carried out with this technique. My own experience bases on nearly 100 cases from 2000 to 2006. A retrospective analysis was performed of 81 patients who underwent surgery via dorso-lateral endoscopic approach in general anesthesia. Excellent or good outcome was obtained in 54(66%) of 81 patients. 15 patients (18.5%) experienced fair outcome, 12 patients (15.9%) had poor outcome and subsequently underwent open surgery.