An interventional study of Endoscopic surgery and Open surgery in Herniated Lumbar Disc, sponsored by Saint-Gregoire Private Hospital Center. Recruiting at 1 site in France. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-10.
Sponsored by Saint-Gregoire Private Hospital Center · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The lifetime prevalence of lumbosacral radiculopathy is 3 to 5 percent. The most common cause is a lumbar disc herniation. In 10 to 20 percent of patients, medical treatment is insufficient, and surgery is recommended. Lumbar discectomy is the standard surgical treatment. In recent years, minimally invasive techniques-and endoscopic approaches in particular-have become widely adopted.
The main advantage of these techniques lies in their reduced invasiveness, which allows for the preservation of muscle and ligament structures, with less extensive detachment and cutting. This preservation is likely to enable faster rehabilitation during the first few weeks and months after surgery, as well as a shorter hospital stay.
However, the available data focus primarily on medium- and long-term outcomes, and few studies have specifically examined early postoperative pain. Yet this immediate period is a critical factor, particularly regarding patient comfort, analgesic use, and length of hospital stay; it is a major determinant of the quality of immediate recovery. There is very little robust comparative data from real-world clinical settings evaluating the impact of surgical technique on early postoperative pain following lumbar discectomy.
In this context, this study aims to compare changes in short-term low back pain intensity following lumbar discectomy, depending on the technique used (endoscopic versus conventional open surgery), under real-world clinical conditions.
5,640 studies on the registry are indexed under Pain, Postoperative; 1,230 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 140 is above the median of 75 across 4,821 interventional studies indexed under Pain, Postoperative.
Browse Pain, Postoperative studies →Saint-Gregoire Private Hospital Center is the lead sponsor of 4 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.
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The procedure is performed under general anesthesia, with the patient in the knee-chest position. After identifying the surgical site using a surgical fluoroscope, sterile skin preparation is performed (by swabbing the area and applying sterile drapes). The approach is percutaneous and transmuscular, using one channel for instruments and another for the endoscopic camera. After exposing the spinal canal, the nerve root is identified and protected. The herniated disc is then accessed following an incision in the posterior longitudinal ligament and resected using a disc forceps. The procedure concludes with skin closure.
Procedure: Endoscopic surgery
The procedure is performed under general anesthesia, with the patient in the knee-chest position. After identifying the surgical level using a surgical fluoroscope, sterile skin preparation is performed (by swabbing the area and applying sterile drapes). A skin incision is made to allow for a posterior approach with muscle dissection. Recalibration is performed to expose the nerve structures. The nerve root is identified and protected; the herniated disc is then accessed after incision of the posterior longitudinal ligament and resected using a disc forceps. Closure is performed layer by layer (fascia, subcutaneous tissue, skin).
Procedure: Open surgery
The procedure is performed under general anesthesia, with the patient in the knee-chest position. After identifying the surgical site using a surgical fluoroscope, sterile skin preparation is performed (by swabbing the area and applying sterile drapes). The approach is percutaneous and transmuscular, using one channel for instruments and another for the endoscopic camera. After exposing the spinal canal, the nerve root is identified and protected. The herniated disc is then accessed following an incision in the posterior longitudinal ligament and resected using a disc forceps. The procedure concludes with skin closure.
The procedure is performed under general anesthesia, with the patient in the knee-chest position. After identifying the surgical level using a surgical fluoroscope, sterile skin preparation is performed (by swabbing the area and applying sterile drapes). A skin incision is made to allow for a posterior approach with muscle dissection. Recalibration is performed to expose the nerve structures. The nerve root is identified and protected; the herniated disc is then accessed after incision of the posterior longitudinal ligament and resected using a disc forceps. Closure is performed layer by layer (fascia, subcutaneous tissue, skin).
To compare, under real-world clinical conditions, changes in the intensity of short-term low back pain following lumbar discectomy, based on the surgical technique used: endoscopic versus open surgery
Change in lumbar Visual Analog Scale (VAS) between preoperative and Day 3. VAS provides a pain intensity score out of 10, 0 representing "no pain" and 10 representing "pain as bad as it could possibly be".
Time frame: day 3
Started Sep 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Sep 2028, 24 months after the start.
Of 2,089 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Pain, Postoperative, half reached primary completion within 11 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 23. This study's planned 24 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 2,102 studies reached it within 11 months; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 23.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
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Saint-Gregoire Private Hospital Center