Comparison between the 2 methods with regard to variation in muscular degeneration.
| Outcome Measure | Ipsilateral | Contralateral | ||
| Fatty Multifidus Infiltration (%) | Muscular Degeneration (Goutallier) | Fatty Multifidus Infiltration (%) | Muscular Degeneration (Goutallier) | |
| Tubular lumbar microdiscectomy | −3.02 (−5.62; 15) | 0 (0; 1) | 0.38 (−3.63; 5.2) | 0 (0; 0) |
| Midline lumbar microdiscectomy | 16.43 (−6.1; 26.97) | 1 (0; 1) | 2.48 (−12.78; 15.21) | 0 (0; 0) |
| P | 0.108 | 0.451 | 0.520 | 0.149 |
Note: Values are shown as mean (minimum; maximum) . P < 0.005.