Comparison of Outcomes of Conservative Treatment, Early Vertebroplasty, and Delayed Vertebroplasty in Patients with Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fractures

ABSTRACT

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. OBJECTIVES: To compare the treatment outcomes of conservative treatment, early vertebroplasty (EVP), and delayed VP (DVP) of patients with osteoporotic compression fractures. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW VP is regarded as an effective treatment for osteoporotic compression fractures. Few studies have compared the outcomes of each of the following treatments conservative treatment, EVP, and DVP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 202 patients who presented with thoracolumbar osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures between January 2008 and December 2013 were divided into three groups group 1 (conservative treatment), group 2 (VP within three weeks), and group 3 (VP after three weeks). We compared the collapse rate and the visual analog scale (VAS) score immediately after the trauma and at the 1-week, 3-week, 6-week, and 1-year follow-ups. RESULTS: The three abovementioned groups consisted of 89 patients, 60 patients, and 53 patients, respectively. The bone mass density (BMD) score of group 1 was statistically significantly higher than that of the others (p<0.05). In group 2, the average VAS score was high immediately after the trauma and low at the 1-year follow-up. Only group 2 showed a significantly high vertebral compression rate immediately after the trauma (p<0.05). Although there were no statistically significant differences in the incidence between the adjacent and the non-adjacent vertebral compression fractures, more patients underwent additional VP in groups 2 and 3 (p=0.980). CONCLUSION: The treatment method of performing EVP seems to yield the best clinical outcomes for patients with osteoporotic compression fractures who exhibit a relatively low BMD, high collapse rate, and high VAS score. Conservative management is the treatment of choice for osteoporotic compression fracture patients with a relatively high BMD, low collapse rate, and low VAS score.