PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Giordan, Enrico
AU  - Gallinaro, Paolo
AU  - Stafa, Altin
AU  - Canova, Giuseppe
AU  - Zanata, Roberto
AU  - Marton, Elisabetta
AU  - Verme, Jacopo Del
TI  - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Outcomes and Adverse Events for Juxtafacet Cysts Treatment
AID  - 10.14444/8181
DP  - 2022 Feb 01
TA  - International Journal of Spine Surgery
PG  - 124--138
VI  - 16
IP  - 1
4099  - https://www.ijssurgery.com/content/16/1/124.short
4100  - https://www.ijssurgery.com/content/16/1/124.full
SO  - Int J Spine Surg2022 Feb 01; 16
AB  - Background Different procedures have been used for the treatment of lumbar juxtafacet cysts (JFCs). Recently, full-endoscopic cyst excision has been suggested as a reasonable alternative. We performed a meta-analysis to assess the overall rates of favorable outcomes and adverse events for each available treatment and determine the outcome and complication rates concerning spine stability.Methods Multiple databases were searched for English-language studies involving adult patients with lumbar JFCs who had been followed for more than 6 months. Outcomes included the proportion of patients with a satisfactory outcome. Adverse events included recurrence and revision rates as well as intraoperative complications. We further stratified the analysis based on the spine’s condition (degenerative listhesis vs without degenerative listhesis).Results A total of 43 studies, including 2226 patients, were identified. Over 80% of patients experienced satisfactory improvement after surgical excision but only 66.2% after percutaneous cyst rupture and aspiration. Overall, recurrence and revision rates were almost double in patients with preoperative degenerative listhesis at the cyst level, especially in the minimally invasive group (2.1% vs 31.3% and 6.8% vs 13.1%, respectively). The rate of full-endoscopic satisfactory outcomes was approximately 90%, with low rates of adverse events (<2%).Conclusion We analyzed the outcome and adverse event rates for each kind of available treatment for JFC. Full endoscopy has outcomes and rates of adverse events that overlap with open and minimally invasive approaches.Level of Evidence 2A.