Comparative Efficacy of PETD and PEID in the Management of L5/S1 Calcified Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Focus on Residual Calcification and Mid-Term Outcomes

Abstract This study is a retrospective cohort analysis of data collected from one clinical site between 2020 and 2022. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two percutaneous endoscopic discectomy procedures in treating calcified lumbar discs at the L5/S1 level: percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal decompression (PETD) and percutaneous endoscopic interlaminar discectomy (PEID). Out of 117 patients who were initially enrolled, 114 completed the research. Of them, 56 had single-level chronic lumbar disc herniation and underwent PETD, whereas 58 received PEID. This breakdown was due to attrition. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS), the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), the Japanese Orthopaedic Association Scores (JOA), and the Short Form 12-Item Health Survey (SF-12) were utilized for demographic assessments, calcification morphology, residual calcified area(CRA), complications, and function analysis analysis in the present study in addition to other instruments. At the1,3, and 12-month follow-up assessments, the PETD and PEID groups did not differ in terms of clinical outcomes. A larger CRA in the PETD group did not affect the treatment efficacy linear regression to a statistically significant degree. This suggests that the two approaches to treating chronic lumbosacral disc herniation are complementary rather than competing.