Treating thoracic-disc herniations: Do we always have to go anteriorly?

STUDY DESIGN  Retrospective cohort study. OBJECTIVE  To determine if there is a difference in outcome and complications in surgically managed patients with thoracic-disc herniations (TDH) undergoing a modified transfacet pedicle-sparing decompression and fusion (posteriorly) compared to those undergoing anterior transthoracic discectomies (anteriorly). METHODS  Thirty-five consecutive operatively managed TDH underwent operative management between March 2003 and November 2009. Outcomes and complications were reviewed from patient records and x-rays assessing differences between those treated posteriorly and those treated anteriorly. RESULTS  Twenty-four patients underwent posterior management for 35 TDH and ten patients underwent anterior management for twelve TDH. Mean age was 50 years in both groups. Body mass index (BMI) averaged 28.8 in the anterior group and 32.0 in the posterior group. Follow-up averaged 38 weeks with four patients lost to follow-up (all posterior). Major complications secondary to surgery occurred in three patients (30%) in the anterior group (pulmonary embolus, pneumonia, and wrong level surgery) and in seven patients (35%) in the posterior group (seroma, misplaced instrumentation requiring revision, recurrence requiring an additional operation, and four infections). No neurological complications occurred and all patients noted improvement from baseline. Average length of stay was 7.3 days in the anterior group and 4.2 days in the posterior group (P < .003). Final pain as assessed by visual analog scale (VAS) improved from 6.7 to 4.3 in the anterior group and 6.9 to 2.3 in the posterior group (P = .05). CONCLUSIONS  Complication rates are similar between groups and are approach related. Posteriorly managed patients had greater improvement in pain and shorter length of stay. [Table: see text] The definition of the different classes of evidence is available on page 83.