Why carry out this study?

During percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) surgery, we found that patients could feel pain when the posterior longitudinal ligament (PLL) was exposed and electrically burned. Up to now, the relevant research on pain characteristics of the PLL when stimulated in PELD has not been reported.

We examined whether pain differences in the ventral and dorsal sides of the PLL are due to differences in nerve fibers.

What was learned from this study?

When stimulating the PLL in PELD, there is a difference between the ventral and dorsal sides, with the former feeling more pain.

In PELD, pain distribution differed between L4/5 and L5/S1, with pain intensity gradually decreasing from head to tail.