Is minimally invasive surgery for herniated discs prone to recurrence?

  There are many minimally invasive surgical procedures for lumbar disc herniation, and those commonly used in clinical practice include nerve root block, radiofrequency ozone ablation, foraminoscopic nucleus pulposus removal, MED microscopic nucleus pulposus removal, and conventional open window nucleus pulposus removal.  Lumbar disc herniation is very common at present, so when surgery is needed patients are faced with two choices of surgery, traditional open surgery or minimally invasive surgery.  The traditional way of intervertebral disc surgery is to remove the nucleus pulposus under direct vision with a small incision, which is a very classic and safe procedure. However, in recent years, minimally invasive, percutaneous access for disc removal has been rapidly emerging. The advantage of doing this procedure is that it is less invasive and is performed via a channel received on a monitor.  Since the choice is minimally invasive, the disadvantage is that there is some recurrence rate, but the recurrence rate is not very high. This is because the minimally invasive access removal is faced with the risk of only partial removal of the protruding lesion, so there is a risk of incomplete removal and a certain recurrence rate.