Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy and interbody fusion with B-Twin expandable spinal spacer

Background  

Posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) is biomechanically sound as it ablates the degenerated disc, restores the intervertebral height, relieves foraminal stenosis, and positions the bone graft along the weight-bearing axis. But this conventional procedure also results in significant traction on the dural sac and the cauda equina and is thereby a potential source of neurologic damage. Therefore, we performed a minimally invasive technique: percutaneous endoscopic discectomy and interbody fusion (PEDIF) with B-Twin expandable spinal spacer (B-twin ESS) to treat symptomatic lumbar degenerative disc disease and explored the clinical outcome.