# Back pain symptom relieved by tubular lumbar microdiscectomy

**Authors:** Yan-Wei Jiang, Mao-chao Zhou

PMC · DOI: 10.3389/fsurg.2025.1702002 · Frontiers in Surgery · 2026-01-27

## TL;DR

This study shows that tubular lumbar microdiscectomy reduces back pain in patients with lumbar disc herniation.

## Contribution

The study demonstrates that tubular microdiscectomy improves back pain and identifies preoperative pain levels as a predictor of improvement.

## Key findings

- Tubular microdiscectomy significantly reduced back pain VAS scores from 4.86 to 2.59.
- Preoperative lumbar VAS scores were significantly associated with postoperative back pain improvement.
- The procedure also reduced radicular leg pain with similar VAS score improvements.

## Abstract

This study aimed to determine the impact of discectomy on back pain and to identify the factors associated with back pain improvement.

A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients with lumbar disc herniation who underwent lumbar microdiscectomy at Fujian Medical University Union Hospital. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores for back and leg pain were assessed before and after the tubular lumbar microdiscectomy.

A total of 111 patients were included in this study. Pre- and post-operative VAS scores for back pain were 4.86 and 2.59, respectively. For radicular leg pain, pre- and post-operative VAS scores were 4.86 and 2.59, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the preoperative lumbar VAS score was significantly associated with improvement in back pain after tubular discectomy.

Tubular microdiscectomy significantly alleviated back pain symptoms in patients with lumbar disc herniation. The findings of this study may help spine surgeons in better educating patients regarding post-operative expectations following this surgical procedure.

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** back and leg pain (MESH:D010146), lumbar disc herniation (MESH:C535531), Back pain (MESH:D001416)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Full text

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## Figures

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## References

18 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12886452/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12886452