Herniated Lumbar DiscDISCOPAINNCT07766031
Postoperative Pain and Analgesic Use Following Lumbar Discectomy: A Comparative Study of Endoscopic Surgery and Open Surgery
A study testing Endoscopic surgery and Open surgery in people with Herniated Lumbar Disc, run by Saint-Gregoire Private Hospital Center at 1 site in France.
Trial summary
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. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Herniated Lumbar Disc
- What is being tested?
- Endoscopic surgery and Open surgery
- Type of treatment
- Injection or infusion, Surgery or procedure
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 140 participants
- Where
- 1 siteFrance
- Study dates
- 4 Sep 2026to 1 Aug 2029
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- 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
Who cannot join
- History of lumbar surgery
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) type 1 or 2
- Multiple affected levels
- Cauda equina syndrome
- Unscheduled surgery
- Spondylolisthesis
Show all 13Show fewer
- 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
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
France1 site, 1 recruiting
- Recruiting
Centre hospitalier Privé Saint-Grégoire
Saint-Grégoire, 35760
Marion Mandon, PhD, +33678277672, drc@vivalto-sante.com
About this study
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.
Read more
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.
- Conditions
- Herniated Lumbar Disc
- Being tested
- Endoscopic surgery, Open surgery
- Keywords
- postoperative pain, discectomy, herniated disc, endoscopy
- Medical subject headings
- Pain, Postoperative, Intervertebral Disc Displacement
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Endoscopic surgeryProcedure or 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.
Open surgeryProcedure or 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).
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Endoscopis surgery | Experimental | 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. Receives: Procedure: Endoscopic surgery |
| Open surgery | Other | 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). Receives: Procedure: Open surgery |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
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
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".
Measured: day 3
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted14 Aug 2026
- Study start4 Sep 2026
- Primary completion4 Sep 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion1 Aug 2029 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Herniated Lumbar DiscStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 140 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Saint-Gregoire Private Hospital Center
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07766031
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2025-41-STG
- Acronym
- DISCOPAIN
- Status last verified
- Sep 2026
- First submitted
- 10 Aug 2026
- Last updated
- 10 Sep 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 10 Sep 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Postoperative Pain and Analgesic Use Following Lumbar Discectomy: A Comparative Study of Endoscopic Surgery and Open Surgery
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07766031
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- DISCOPAIN / 2025-41-STG
- Conditions
- Herniated Lumbar Disc
- Keywords
- postoperative pain, discectomy, herniated disc, endoscopy
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 140 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Saint-Gregoire Private Hospital CenterUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 4 Sep 2026 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 4 Sep 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 1 Aug 2029 (estimated)
- First posted
- 14 Aug 2026 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
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 design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Endoscopis surgery | Experimental | Procedure: Endoscopic surgeryThe 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. |
| Open surgery | Other | Procedure: Open surgeryThe 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). |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (2 listed)
- 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
Key exclusion criteria (13 listed)
- History of lumbar surgery
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) type 1 or 2
- Multiple affected levels
- Cauda equina syndrome
- Unscheduled surgery
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Endoscopic surgeryThe 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 or surgery | Endoscopis surgery |
| Open surgeryThe 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 or surgery | Open surgery |
Primary outcome
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".
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 10 Sep 2026.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Endoscopic surgery and Open surgery in people with Herniated Lumbar Disc, run by Saint-Gregoire Private Hospital Center at 1 site in France.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 13 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 10 Sep 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in France. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Jonathan LEBHAR, Dr (+332 23 25 30 70, jlebhar@vivalto-sante.com), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
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). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 10 Sep 2026.