RESUMO
Objective:To compare the clinical efficacy of unilateral biportal endoscopy (UBE) and uniportal endoscopy (UE) for unilateral laminotomy for bilateral decompression (ULBD) in the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis.Methods:Data of 82 patients with lumbar spinal stenosis treated by ULBD under UBE or UE from January 2020 to June 2021 in Dalian Central Hospital affiliated to Dalian Medical University and the First Hospital affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University were retrospectively analyzed, including 36 males and 46 females, aged 63.3±7.5 years (range, 47-81 years). According to the surgical procedure, they were divided into UBE group (42 cases), including 20 males and 22 females; aged 63.2±7.6 years (range, 47-81 years) and UE group (40 cases), including 16 males and 24 females; aged 63.5±7.5 years (range, 48-80 years). Operation time, hospital stay and surgical complications were compared between the two groups. Visual analogue scale (VAS) of low back and leg pain before surgery, 1 day, 7 d, 1 month and 6 months after surgery, and Oswestry disability index (ODI) before surgery, 1 month and 6 months after surgery were compared. Dural sac area before and after surgery, resection angle of ipsilateral facet joint, decompression rate of disc space and bone lateral recess were calculated.Results:All patients were operated successfully. In the UBE group, the operation time was 63.1±7.0 min, and the hospital stay was 3.9±0.9 d. The UE group was 61.2±6.2 min and 3.7±0.9 d, respectively ( t=1.31, P=0.195; t=1.24, P=0.217). The VAS of back and legs pain in UBE group decreased from 7.19±0.97 before operation to 3.43±0.63 points at postoperative 1 day, 1.71±0.60 at postoperative 7 d, 1.33±0.48 at postoperative 1 month and 1.36±0.48 points at postoperative 6 months ( F=352.29, P<0.001). The VAS score of the UE group decreased from 6.85±0.89 points before operation to 2.45±0.75 points at postoperative 1 day, 1.75±0.59 points at postoperative 7 d, 1.33±0.47 points at postoperative 1 month and 1.28±0.45 points at postoperative 6 months ( F=291.44, P<0.001). The VAS of low back and leg pain was higher in the UBE group than in the UE group at 1 day postoperatively ( t=6.41, P<0.001), and the difference was not statistically significant at 7 d postoperatively ( t=-0.27, P=0.786). The ODI of UBE group decreased from 66.62%±4.98% before operation to 21.81%±2.61% at postoperative 1 month and 11.62%±2.31% at postoperative 6 months ( F=1991.35, P<0.001). The ODI score of UE group decreased from 64.35%±5.16% before operation to 22.85%±3.26% at postoperative 1 month and 11.15%±2.86% at postoperative 6 months ( F=1931.18, P<0.001). The postoperative dural sac area of the UBE and UE groups was 135.1±10.0 mm 2 and 120.9±10.4 mm 2 ( t=6.30, P<0.001). The resection angle of ipsilateral facet joint was 69.3°±4.9° and 94.3°±4.1° in the two groups, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( t=-25.00, P<0.001). The decompression rate of ipsilateral disk-flavum space was 39.0%±3.0% and 38.7%±3.3% in the two groups ( t=1.52, P=0.314). On the contralateral side was 41.6%±3.3% and 22.8%±3.2% ( t=26.32, P<0.001), respectively. The ipsilateral osseous side fossa decompression rate in the two groups were 70.0%±4.8% and 59.3%±3.9% ( t=15.64, P<0.001), the contralateral were 73.0%±3.4% and 48.4%±4.3% ( t=28.86, P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the decompression rate of ipsilateral disco-flavum space or bony lateral recess between the UBE group and the contralateral group ( t=-1.40, P=0.174; t=-1.72, P=0.096), while the decompression rate of discoflavum space and bony side recess on the ipsilateral side of UE group were higher than those on the contralateral side ( t=28.51, P<0.001; t=13.95, P<0.001). Conclusion:Both UE-ULBD and UBE-ULBD have good short-term clinical efficacy in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis. UB is better than UBE in early postoperative pain relief. However, UBE shows better imaging performance in decompression effect and better retention of facet joints.