International journal of surgery
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Percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (PETLIF) has been used in the treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases, as a novel minimally invasive technique. ⋯ The study indicated that PETLIF had advantages of less surgical trauma, less postoperative low-back pain, less hidden blood loss, and faster recovery, compared with MIS-TLIF. There was no significant difference in medium-short term surgical outcomes between the 2 techniques. However, the indications of PETLIF is relatively limited, and the learning curve of PETLIF is deep, surgeons need to select indications strictly. Further study with big sample size and long-term follow-up is needed.