Clinical effect of unilateral biportal endoscopy in the treatment of lumbar diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction Currently, unilateral biportal endoscopy (UBE) as a new minimally invasive technique has been applied to conventional arthroscopic systems for the treatment of spinal disease. Aim To analyze the clinical effect of UBE in the treatment of lumbar diseases. Material and methods A systematic review of the literature published up to May 2021 was performed in the English database PubMed, Embase, and the Chinese database CNKI, Wanfang. There were 9 studies included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The outcomes measured included operative time, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). Results A total of 528 patients were collected from the selected 9 articles. The random effects model showed that the value of pooled effect mean deviation (MD) in each study was 58.62 (95% CI (57.53, 59.72), p < 0.001). At the end of postoperative follow-up, the standard mean difference (SMD) VAS scores of legs –4.12 (95% CI (–5.15, –3.09), p < 0.001) and back -3.10 (95% CI (–4.35, –1.84), p < 0.001) were lower than the preoperative values. At the same time, the results of the random-effects model showed that the SMD of the ODI score was –7.07 (95% CI (–8.69, –5.46), p < 0.001) and at the end of follow-up was lower than preoperatively. Conclusions UBE surgery has a good clinical effect in the treatment of lumbar diseases, and can be widely used in the treatment of free prolapse lumbar disc herniation (LDH).