Abstract:Objective To compare the effectiveness and safety of local anesthesia (LA) and epidural anesthesia (EA) for percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy (PTED) and provide reference data for clinical decision-making.Methods We searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Medline, Science Direct, China National Knowledge Infrastructure,Chinese Biomedical Literature Database and Wanfang Database from inception to March 2022 in order to identify randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials comparing LA and EA for PTED. Meta-analysis was conducted using Review Manager 5.3 software.Results 14 studies involving a total of 1 619 patients were included. Meta-analysis revealed the visual analogue scale (VAS) of waist and complication rate of EA group were lower than those of LA group, and the anesthesia satisfaction rate was higher than that of LA group, the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences of surgical duration, VAS of leg and postoperative Oswestry disability index (ODI) between the two groups (P > 0.05).Conclusion EA is as safe as LA and produces better anesthetic effects than those of LA in patients undergoing PTED. Therefore, it should be promoted as a reliable anesthetic technique for PTED.