Unilateral hemilaminectomy vs. laminoplasty for the resection of spinal schwannomas: an analysis of 100 patients

Objective Spinal schwannomas are the most common intradural extramedullary tumors, and their complete removal is recommended to avoid tumor recurrence. Although laminoplasty provides a sufficient window for tumor resection, this approach may increase tissue trauma and cause postoperative instability compared with unilateral hemilaminectomy. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and clinical outcomes of the two approaches. Materials and methods We included 100 consecutive patients who underwent unilateral hemilaminectomy or laminoplasty for resection of spinal schwannomas between January 2015 and February 2023. The patients' baseline characteristics, including sex, age, tumor location, percentage of tumor occupying the intradural space, operative time, postoperative length of hospital stay, intraoperative bleeding volume, visual analog scale score, and neurologic results, were retrospectively analyzed. Results Hemilaminectomy patients who underwent unilateral hemilaminectomy had smaller intraoperative bleeding ( p = 0.020) volume, shorter operative time ( p = 0.012), and shorter postoperative length of hospital stay ( p = 0.044). The mean VAS scores at the last follow-up were similar between the two groups ( p = 0.658). Although the postoperative McCormick and Karnofsky Performance scores were not significantly different between the laminoplasty and unilateral hemilaminectomy groups ( p = 0.687 and p = 0.649, respectively), there was a statistically significant improvement based on postoperative neurological results compared to preoperative neurological results for both groups. The incidence of postoperative complications was 5% and 11.7% in the unilateral hemilaminectomy and laminoplasty groups, respectively ( p = 0.308). Conclusions For spinal schwannoma resection, unilateral hemilaminectomy has more advantages than laminoplasty, including a shorter postoperative hospital stay, faster procedure, and less intraoperative blood loss while achieving the same desired result.