RESUMO
BACKGROUND: In the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures with percutaneous vertebroplasty, the efficacy and safety of bone cement injection by unipedicular and bipedicular approaches are still controversial. Some studies suggest that bone cement injection via unipedicular approach can shorten operation time and reduce postoperative complications, while the other studies suggest that bone cement injection via bipedicular approach can make bone cement distribute more evenly in the vertebral body and relieve pain better. OBJECTIVE: To systematically assess the efficacy and safety of percutaneous vertebroplasty via unipedicular versus bipedicular approach in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials about unipedicular versus bipedicular percutaneous vertebroplasty in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture published before September 18 t h, 2018 were retrieved in the PubMed, Cochrane library, Embase, CNKI, VIP, WanFang data and CBM. Two researchers independently screened all the literatures, carried out data extraction and used improved Jadad to evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies. Meta-analysis using Revam 5.3 was conducted. Egger's test was utilized to evaluate the publication bias. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Totally 14 randomized controlled trials including 900 cases were eventually included, 452 cases in unipedicular approach group and 448 cases in bipedicular approach group. The Meta-analysis results showed that compared with the bipedicular approach, the unipedicular approach required shorter operation time [weighted mean difference (WMD) =-16.59, 95％ confidence interval (CI) (-19.25, -13.94), P < 0.001], smaller amount of bone cement injected [WMD=-1.27, 95％ CI (-1.64, -0.89), P < 0.001], and had lower incidence of cement leakage [relative risk=0.70, 95％ CI (0.53, 0.92), P =0.01]. There were no significant differences in short-and long-term Visual Analogue Scale scores, short-and long-term Oswestry Disability Index scores, and the postoperative incidence of adjacent vertebral fractures between the two groups (P> 0.05). Overall, bone cement injection both via bipedicular and unipedicular approaches can lead to a significant improvement in pain relief and living quality of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture patients, but bone cement injection via unipedicular approach can shorten operation time, reduce cement volume and lower the incidence of cement leakage compared with the bipedicular approach.