Percutaneous vertebroplasty to treat osteoporotic vertebral body compression fractures / 中华创伤骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Vertebral compression fractures, the most common complication of the osteoporosis, results in significant morbidity of prolonged and intractable pain in some patients. Vertebroplasty procedure that involves percutaneous injection of bone cement into a collapsed vertebra has recently been introduced to treat osteoporotic patients who have prolonged pain following vertebral compression fracture. To determine the details of the procedure and to gather information on its safety and efficacy, we performed a MEDLINE search using the terms ‘vertebroplasty’. We reviewed reports of these procedures in patients with osteoporosis. Several reports suggest that the vertebroplasty is associated with pain relief in 67% to 100% of the cases. Short-term complications, mainly the result of extravasation of cement, can increase pain and damage from heat or compression to the spinal cord or nerve roots. Proper patient selection and good technique can decrease such complications so that the decompression surgery is rarely needed. But long-term complications, which include foreign-body reaction at the cement-bone interface, the wear of the cement, and increased risk of fracture in the adjacent vertebrae due to changes of mechanical stresses, have not been fully evaluated. In short, there is still a long way to go for the vertebroplasty.