Endoscopic Dural Tear Repair: Technical Note and Literature Review

Background: Incidental dural tears during lumbar spine surgery are one of the most important complications, with highest rate in older patients, lumbar stenosis cases and bilateral decompression realized with a unilateral approach.The primary repair of a dural tear is the gold standard treatment, but in endoscopic surgery there is no standard protocol, the common strategies include patch compression (in small dural tears) and conversion to open repair.Case Description: 81-years-old female, severe right leg radiculopathy and neurological claudication, lumbar hypertrophic facets in L4-L5 and hypertrophy of ligamentum flavum causing lumbar stenosis in the same level.Endoscopic decompression with an incidental durotomy on the dorsolateral aspect, approximately 7mm.We proceed to repair the lesion, full endoscopic, using the "Inside-out technique". Conclusions:Older patient with lumbar stenosis, doing a successful full endoscopic primary repair, without especial instruments, led to a successful recovery, no cerebrospinal fluid leakage and allowing early mobilization.