Abstract

Background
Lumbar Arthroscopic Spinal Surgery (LASS) has several advantages compared to conventional procedures in terms of improved visual field, versatility with instrumentation, and ease of handling. Purpose: To report the learning curve of LASS for more than 10 years by an experienced spine surgeon.
Materials and Methods
We retrospectively reviewed medical records of the patients who underwent LASS from Dec. 29th, 2017 to April 31st, 2018. Lumbar Arthroscopic Discectomy (LADi), Lumbar Arthroscopic Decompression (LAD), Lumbar Arthroscopic Foraminoplasty (LAF) were performed. Operation time, the amount of bleeding, the length of hospital stay and the degree of postoperative pain were analyzed to evaluate the learning curve.
Results
28 cases (90.3%) showed satisfactory postoperative results. The operation time per segment was 124.2±58.5 minutes (range 45~247). The mean operation time for LADi was 91.4±62.7 minutes (45~247), for LAD was 136.1±53.8 minutes (68~222 minutes) and for LAF was 135.3±50.6 minutes (72~245), and was indicating a declining trend. In the LAF, the slope of the decline of the learning curve was gentle compared to other operations.
Conclusion
The results of short-term follow-up of LASS are excellent, and it is easy to acquire skills in experienced spine surgeon.

• Keywords: Arthroscopy, LASS, Learning curve, Pitfalls