Vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty in Osteoporotic Vertebral Body Fractures.

Plain-language summary

Vertebral body fractures are a major health care problem in all countries with incidence 1.4%. They are a common cause of severe debilitating pain, with consequent deteriorated quality of life, physical function and psychosocial performance. Surgery is indicated in patients with vertebral body fracture, and concurrent spinal instability or neurologic deficit. The cornerstone of management for vertebral body fractures without neurological impairment is medical therapy, which include analgesics, bed rest, orthoses and rehabilitation. In the majority of patients such treatment modalities are effective. However, conservative management measures are not indicated for every type of fracture. For example, in older patients with vertebral fractures and cardio-respiratory disease it is not possible to prescribe bedrest for long period. Moreover, sometimes anti-inflammatory drugs are poorly tolerated by older patients, and bed rest can lead to further demineralization of the vertebrae, predisposing to future fractures. Percutaneous minimally invasive vertebral augmentation methods for cement application into the vertebral body are a useful tool for the management of symptomatic fractures without neurological impairment when conventional measures of treatment can not be adopted. Two different percutaneous minimally invasive vertebral augmentation methods for cement application into the vertebral body for the management of symptomatic vertebral body fractures without neurological impairment have been developed, namely vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty. Kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty have gained wide acceptance worldwide to manage patients without neurological impairment suffering from unmanageable pain caused by vertebral body fractures. Both procedures depend on mechanical stabilization of the fracture produced by cement injection into the fractured vertebral body. Cement augmentation of the vertebral body by vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty was originally introduced for osteoporotic compression fractures, but surgeons have now applied these techniques as a method of enhancing anterior column support while avoiding the morbidity and complications associated with anterior approaches. The mainstay of the controversy between kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty are height restoration, whether or not this height restoration is clinically significant, and the risks related to height restoration.

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