[Guidelines of the German Radiological Society for percutaneous vertebroplasty]

In many countries, percutaneous vertebroplasty became a widely accepted therapeutic option in osteoporotic and neoplastic fractures of the vertebral bodies which is employed in more and more patients. Under image guidance the method can be safely performed and provides a high success rate regarding stabilization of vertebral fractures and pain relief. Due to the increasing interest in vertebroplasty in Germany the German Radiological Society-Working Group on Interventional Radiology decided to produce guidelines for percutaneous vertebroplasty. This guidelines are based on the recent standard of knowledge and represent a guide for practical performance of this procedure. Based on the technical development of the method, indications and implementation of the method in multimodal therapy regimens may change over the next years. Therefore, this guidelines are not a rigid body of rules but a basis for an ongoing development adjusted to the scientific progress and the interdisciplinary discussion.