Percutaneous Full Endoscopic Treatment of Bertolotti Syndrome: A Report of Three Cases with Technical Note

Abstract

Background Bertolotti syndrome is characterized by an abnormal enlargement of the transverse process of the most caudal lumbar vertebra. Most of the time it is asymptomatic, but when it is symptomatic it is associated with low back pain, radiating leg pain, or both. There is no consensus regarding management of this pathology. Open to minimal invasive tubular resection techniques are described in the literature, but a full endoscopic resection technique has not yet been described. Endoscopic technique is a less invasive target-oriented iliolumbar ligament preserving technique. We report our percutaneous full endoscopic technique for the treatment of symptomatic Bertolotti syndrome.

Method We have treated three symptomatic cases of Bertolotti syndrome with the percutaneous endoscopic technique. We review the feasibility of this technique and the outcomes.

Result Full endoscopic resection of Bertolotti syndrome is feasible and safe with comparable good outcomes and the added benefits of minimal invasive surgery.

Conclusion We believe this novel percutaneous full endoscopic technique will yield good results in the hands of expert endoscopic spine surgeons and can be an alternative treatment method in cases of symptomatic Bertolotti syndrome. To our knowledge this is the first report of percutaneous full endoscopic treatment of Bertolotti syndrome in the world.

Keywords

lumbosacral transitional vertebra - Bertolotti syndrome - hypertrophy of transverse process - iliolumbar ligament - endoscopic resection of Bertolotti syndrome

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