Postoperative Pain and Analgesic Use Following Lumbar Discectomy: A Comparative Study of Endoscopic Surgery and Open Surgery (DISCOPAIN)

September 9, 2026 updated by: Saint-Gregoire Private Hospital Center

The lifetime prevalence of lumbosacral radiculopathy is 3 to 5 percent. The most common cause is a lumbar disc herniation. In 10 to 20 percent of patients, medical treatment is insufficient, and surgery is recommended. Lumbar discectomy is the standard surgical treatment. In recent years, minimally invasive techniques-and endoscopic approaches in particular-have become widely adopted.

The main advantage of these techniques lies in their reduced invasiveness, which allows for the preservation of muscle and ligament structures, with less extensive detachment and cutting. This preservation is likely to enable faster rehabilitation during the first few weeks and months after surgery, as well as a shorter hospital stay.

However, the available data focus primarily on medium- and long-term outcomes, and few studies have specifically examined early postoperative pain. Yet this immediate period is a critical factor, particularly regarding patient comfort, analgesic use, and length of hospital stay; it is a major determinant of the quality of immediate recovery. There is very little robust comparative data from real-world clinical settings evaluating the impact of surgical technique on early postoperative pain following lumbar discectomy.

In this context, this study aims to compare changes in short-term low back pain intensity following lumbar discectomy, depending on the technique used (endoscopic versus conventional open surgery), under real-world clinical conditions.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

140

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • France
      • Saint-Grégoire, France, 35760
        • Recruiting
        • Centre hospitalier Privé Saint-Grégoire
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Have had radicular and/or lower back pain for more than 6 weeks despite proper medical treatment, leading to the decision to schedule surgery
  • Have symptoms consistent with an MRI showing a herniated disc

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of lumbar surgery
  • Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) type 1 or 2
  • Multiple affected levels
  • Cauda equina syndrome
  • Unscheduled surgery
  • Spondylolisthesis
  • Significantly narrowed lumbar canal (Schizas C or D)
  • Pregnant, laboring, or breastfeeding women
  • Severe psychiatric disorder
  • Unwilling subject who cannot give consent or cannot return for scheduled visits as per the protocol
  • Person under legal protection (guardianship, conservatorship, or judicial safeguard)
  • Person deprived of liberty by judicial or administrative order
  • Person not covered by social security

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Endoscopis surgery
The procedure is performed under general anesthesia, with the patient in the knee-chest position. After identifying the surgical site using a surgical fluoroscope, sterile skin preparation is performed (by swabbing the area and applying sterile drapes). The approach is percutaneous and transmuscular, using one channel for instruments and another for the endoscopic camera. After exposing the spinal canal, the nerve root is identified and protected. The herniated disc is then accessed following an incision in the posterior longitudinal ligament and resected using a disc forceps. The procedure concludes with skin closure.
Procedure: Endoscopic surgery
The procedure is performed under general anesthesia, with the patient in the knee-chest position. After identifying the surgical site using a surgical fluoroscope, sterile skin preparation is performed (by swabbing the area and applying sterile drapes). The approach is percutaneous and transmuscular, using one channel for instruments and another for the endoscopic camera. After exposing the spinal canal, the nerve root is identified and protected. The herniated disc is then accessed following an incision in the posterior longitudinal ligament and resected using a disc forceps. The procedure concludes with skin closure.
Other: Open surgery
The procedure is performed under general anesthesia, with the patient in the knee-chest position. After identifying the surgical level using a surgical fluoroscope, sterile skin preparation is performed (by swabbing the area and applying sterile drapes). A skin incision is made to allow for a posterior approach with muscle dissection. Recalibration is performed to expose the nerve structures. The nerve root is identified and protected; the herniated disc is then accessed after incision of the posterior longitudinal ligament and resected using a disc forceps. Closure is performed layer by layer (fascia, subcutaneous tissue, skin).
Procedure: Open surgery
The procedure is performed under general anesthesia, with the patient in the knee-chest position. After identifying the surgical level using a surgical fluoroscope, sterile skin preparation is performed (by swabbing the area and applying sterile drapes). A skin incision is made to allow for a posterior approach with muscle dissection. Recalibration is performed to expose the nerve structures. The nerve root is identified and protected; the herniated disc is then accessed after incision of the posterior longitudinal ligament and resected using a disc forceps. Closure is performed layer by layer (fascia, subcutaneous tissue, skin).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
To compare, under real-world clinical conditions, changes in the intensity of short-term low back pain following lumbar discectomy, based on the surgical technique used: endoscopic versus open surgery
Time Frame: day 3
Change in lumbar Visual Analog Scale (VAS) between preoperative and Day 3. VAS provides a pain intensity score out of 10, 0 representing "no pain" and 10 representing "pain as bad as it could possibly be".
day 3

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Saint-Gregoire Private Hospital Center

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 4, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 4, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 10, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 10, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

August 14, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 10, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 9, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2025-41-STG

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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