Evaluation of Percutaneous Vertebroplasty for Management of Symptomatic Osteoporotic Compression Fracture

Osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures are a leading cause of disability and associated morbidities among Indian population. Worldwide, approximately 20% of elderly population above 70 years and 16% of postmenopausal women are suffering from it. Vertebral compression fractures should be aggressively treated with minimally invasive techniques such as Percutaneous Vertebroplasty (PVP) or Percutaneous Kyphoplasty (PKP) to minimize pain and disability associated with it.

To evaluate the PVP in terms of pain reduction and restoration of functional abilities among the patients suffering from symptomatic osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture.

PVP using polymethyl methacrylate bone cement was performed between 2011 to 2013, on 25 patients admitted for symptomatic osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture in the Department of Orthopaedics, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (IPGMER) and SSKM Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. All of them were followed up for one year. Pain and disability were evaluated with Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Questionnaire (ODQ) score respectively. Repeated measures ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc test was applied for significance testing.

Reduction in pain was reported by 56% of patients within 10 minutes of operation. Mean VAS score at presentation was 8.24 (±1.16). It reduced to 6.31 (±1.21) and 2.38 (±0.08) at immediate postoperative period and after 12 months respectively. There was significant reduction (p<0.05) in pain, as measured by VAS score, started at immediate postoperative period to end of follow up period up to one year. Disability, measured by ODQ score, significantly decrease (p<0.05) over time from one week to 12-month postoperatively. At presentation, ODQ score was 93.01 (±4.54). It reduced to 76.84 (±3.76), one week after operation and 16.23 (±1.17), one year after operation.

The PVP with polymethayl methacrylate bone cement is still a justified treatment procedure for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures as it provides excellent pain relief, internal stability to the fractured vertebra thus preventing further collapse and progression of kyphosis, allowing the patients to regain normal activity at the earliest, and at a very reasonable cost with minimal complication.