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Background: Extraforaminal disc herniations represent up to 11% of all lumbar herniated discs. Numerous surgical approaches have been described. Percutaneous endoscopic discectomy (PED) is one of the minimally invasive techniques; after mastering this procedure it is a practical method that is used for treatment of foraminal or extraforaminal disc herniation. The outcome of PED for treatment of foraminal or extraforaminal disc herniation has been studied.

Method: A total of 66 patients with foraminal or extraforaminal lumbar disc herniation was treated by applying the PED technique between January 1998 and June 2005. The positions of the herniated disc levels were L2-3 (n= 5, 8%), L3-4 (n= 19, 28%) and L4-5 (n= 42; 64%). The selected patients had no previous surgery, appropriate conservative therapies were done before the operations, and MRI was the main diagnostic method with the clinical findings …