Role of Percutaneous Vertebroplasty in Management of Osteoporotic Spine Fractures

Objective: The aim of this work is to evaluate the outcomes of Percutaneous vertebroplasty of pathological fractures secondary to osteoporotic spine fractures. Methods: 10 patients having pathological fractures secondary to osteoporosis in the dorsal and lumbar spine were included in this study and were operated upon using Percutaneous vertebroplasty. Postoperatively, patients were evaluated and followed-up for their neurological integrity, deficits and outcome. Results: 10 patients were operated upon. The median age of presentation in this study was 67.5 years. There was 3 males (30%) and 7 females (70%). In this study the main presentation of patients with osteoporotic fractures of the dorsal and lumbar spine was pain in all the 10 patients (100%). In this study the distribution of vertebral compression fracture for metastatic spine fractures was from the ninth dorsal vertebrae to the fifth lumbar vertebrae with 58% of the fractures in the dorsal spine and 42% in the lumbar spine. Postoperatively, in this study seven patients (70%) showed pain improvement. The complication rate for management of osteoporotic fractures of the dorsal and lumbar spine was 10% (1 patient) in the form of anaphylactic reaction. Conclusion: Our study confirms that Percutaneous vertebroplasty of pathological fractures secondary to osteoporotic spine fractures is generally safe, effective and well-tolerated by patients. However, studies have proven that the long term follow-up did not show any difference from conservative management of the pathological fractures secondary to osteoporotic spine fractures.