Neuromyopathy, dilated lumbar intervertebral endoscopic decompression to improve pain and prove safety
Dec 03, 2025
Lumbar neuromyopathy is a disease in which leg numbness and back pain occur as the passage of the nerve narrows. Treatment is generally performed by endoscopic decompression to release the nerve by widening the area that compresses the nerve, but there was a limit to pain or recurrence due to difficulty in sufficient decompression.
Meanwhile, a research team led by Professor Ahn Yong of neurosurgery at Gangdong Kyunghee University Hospital has developed a new surgical method 'Extended Lumbar Intervertebral Endoscopic Depressurization (Extended TELF)' that can safely decompress a wider range by supplementing these problems and demonstrating its superiority. The findings were published in the latest issue of the SCIE Journal of Clinical Medicine.
Neuropathy is a disease that causes pain and numbness due to pressure of nerves as the passage of nerves from the waist to the legs narrows. It is mainly caused by thickening of bones and ligaments due to lumbar disc or degenerative changes. Pain appears as if electricity is coming from the waist to the legs. If it gets worse, it becomes difficult to walk and your legs lose strength, which can greatly limit your daily life. Conservative treatments such as medications and injections are initially performed, but if there is no improvement, decompression surgery is needed to release the area that directly presses the nerve.
Existing endoscopic decompression, the most widely performed endoscopic decompression technique in neuropathy, has the advantage of small skin incision and fast recovery. However, due to the structural limitation that it is difficult to widen the nerve hole sufficiently, there was a problem that the nerve hole became narrow again over time or pain remained. In particular, 'border compression', which occurs in the upper, lower, and back of the nerve hole, has been pointed out as a major cause of recurrence because it is difficult to access only with existing endoscopic technology.
To address these limitations, Professor Ahn's research team has developed a new surgical method 'Expanded Lumbar Intervertebral Endoscopic Depressurization (Extended TELF)' designed to reduce a wide range of nerve holes more safely.
Professor Ahn's research team conducted a study on 131 patients with lumbar neuromyopathy to verify the effectiveness and safety of 'expanded lumbar intervertebral endoscopic decompression'. Existing endoscopic decompression (67) and dilated decompression (64) were retrospectively compared under the same indication, and after surgery, the indicators of pain (VAS), dysfunction (ODI), and satisfaction (Macnab) were followed for up to two years along with imaging evaluation to analyze the decompression effect and safety.
As a result of the study, 'expanded lumbar intervertebral endoscopic decompression' showed faster initial pain reduction than conventional endoscopic surgery, and significantly lower pain indicators (VAS) even at 2 years after surgery. Even in the Macnab criteria for evaluating patient satisfaction, the rate of 'excellent and good' was 92.2%, which was higher than that of the conventional surgery group (85.1%). In particular, even though the range of decompression was expanded, the incidence of complications such as nerve damage and bleeding was not significantly different from that of existing surgery, so the high safety of dilated decompression was also confirmed.
The biggest strength of the 'extended lumbar intervertebral endoscopy' is that it can precisely resolve the pressure areas that were difficult to access with conventional endoscopes by extending the decompression range to the upper, lower, and rear boundaries of the nerve hole. Through this, it is expected to reduce the initial pain caused by nerve edema immediately after surgery and to reduce the risk of retraction, which narrows again over time. In addition, it is evaluated as a new approach that complements the structural limitations of existing endoscopic technology as it can widely respond to various types of stenosis such as vertical and dynamic stenosis.
Professor Ahn stated that "'expanded lumbar intervertebral endoscopic decompression' will be a new option to further advance the treatment strategy for patients with neuropathy." Since there is a limitation of retrospective research, we plan to elaborately establish surgical standards through larger-scale prospective research in the future, he added.
Meanwhile, a research team led by Professor Ahn Yong of neurosurgery at Gangdong Kyunghee University Hospital has developed a new surgical method 'Extended Lumbar Intervertebral Endoscopic Depressurization (Extended TELF)' that can safely decompress a wider range by supplementing these problems and demonstrating its superiority. The findings were published in the latest issue of the SCIE Journal of Clinical Medicine.
Neuropathy is a disease that causes pain and numbness due to pressure of nerves as the passage of nerves from the waist to the legs narrows. It is mainly caused by thickening of bones and ligaments due to lumbar disc or degenerative changes. Pain appears as if electricity is coming from the waist to the legs. If it gets worse, it becomes difficult to walk and your legs lose strength, which can greatly limit your daily life. Conservative treatments such as medications and injections are initially performed, but if there is no improvement, decompression surgery is needed to release the area that directly presses the nerve.
Existing endoscopic decompression, the most widely performed endoscopic decompression technique in neuropathy, has the advantage of small skin incision and fast recovery. However, due to the structural limitation that it is difficult to widen the nerve hole sufficiently, there was a problem that the nerve hole became narrow again over time or pain remained. In particular, 'border compression', which occurs in the upper, lower, and back of the nerve hole, has been pointed out as a major cause of recurrence because it is difficult to access only with existing endoscopic technology.
To address these limitations, Professor Ahn's research team has developed a new surgical method 'Expanded Lumbar Intervertebral Endoscopic Depressurization (Extended TELF)' designed to reduce a wide range of nerve holes more safely.
Professor Ahn's research team conducted a study on 131 patients with lumbar neuromyopathy to verify the effectiveness and safety of 'expanded lumbar intervertebral endoscopic decompression'. Existing endoscopic decompression (67) and dilated decompression (64) were retrospectively compared under the same indication, and after surgery, the indicators of pain (VAS), dysfunction (ODI), and satisfaction (Macnab) were followed for up to two years along with imaging evaluation to analyze the decompression effect and safety.
As a result of the study, 'expanded lumbar intervertebral endoscopic decompression' showed faster initial pain reduction than conventional endoscopic surgery, and significantly lower pain indicators (VAS) even at 2 years after surgery. Even in the Macnab criteria for evaluating patient satisfaction, the rate of 'excellent and good' was 92.2%, which was higher than that of the conventional surgery group (85.1%). In particular, even though the range of decompression was expanded, the incidence of complications such as nerve damage and bleeding was not significantly different from that of existing surgery, so the high safety of dilated decompression was also confirmed.
The biggest strength of the 'extended lumbar intervertebral endoscopy' is that it can precisely resolve the pressure areas that were difficult to access with conventional endoscopes by extending the decompression range to the upper, lower, and rear boundaries of the nerve hole. Through this, it is expected to reduce the initial pain caused by nerve edema immediately after surgery and to reduce the risk of retraction, which narrows again over time. In addition, it is evaluated as a new approach that complements the structural limitations of existing endoscopic technology as it can widely respond to various types of stenosis such as vertical and dynamic stenosis.
Professor Ahn stated that "'expanded lumbar intervertebral endoscopic decompression' will be a new option to further advance the treatment strategy for patients with neuropathy." Since there is a limitation of retrospective research, we plan to elaborately establish surgical standards through larger-scale prospective research in the future, he added.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
