Endoscopic Spine Surgery: A Review of Current Evidence, Techniques, and Future Directions
Keywords:
Endoscopic spine surgery, Uniportal full-endoscopic spine surgery (UESS), Unilateral biportal endoscopic spine surgery (UBE), Minimally invasive spine surgery, Learning curve, Lumbar discectomy, Spinal stenosis, Dural tear, Endoscopic lumbar interbody fusion, Same-day outpatient spine surgeryAbstract
In the spine literature, endoscopic spine surgery (ESS) is set to be the most widely discussed subject by the year 2026, as shown by the large number of systematic reviews, comparisons of techniques, studies of the learning curve, and growing interest within health systems regarding same-day outpatient (SDO) care. It provides a minimally invasive option compared with conventional open and microscopic methods for treating degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, and is now being applied to an increasing number of cervical, thoracic, and fusion procedures. This review brings together the existing uniportal and biportal techniques, provides a quantification of recent outcome and complication data, looks at the learning curve barrier which is still influencing adoption patterns, and identifies the new developments such as AI-assisted planning, navigation, and expansion into fusion and oncologic applications.
