Incidence of unexpected positive histology in kyphoplasty

Kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty have become one of the most frequent surgical procedures in the treatment of vertebral compression fractures. Often, the cause of compression fractures is lowered bone mineral density as in osteoporosis. In the differential workup, also pathologic vertebral compression fractures need to be ruled out. Importantly, imaging techniques alone cannot safely differentiate between invasive lymphatic and osteoporotic vertebral fracture. Our goal was to identify the degree of unexpected positive histology in kyphoplasty for presumed osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture.

We retrospectively analyzed all kyphoplasties performed between 2007 and 2015 at our institution. The data were acquired by reviewing our medical documentation system. The data analysis was done using Microsoft Excel. The statistical analysis was done using the Chi-squared test.

We performed 130 kyphoplasties/vertebroplasties. A biopsy was taken in 97 (74.6%) cases. In 10 (10.3%) cases, the histology revealed a pathological fracture. From these patients, only in 3 (30%) cases, a positive histology was not expected. Meaning that there was no history of cancer and the radiological findings presumed an osteoporotic fracture.

Therefore, we could demonstrate that the incidence of unexpected positive histology in vertebral compression fracture treated with kyphoplasty is significant (3.1%). As a conclusion, if a kyphoplasty is performed due to assumed osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture, a biopsy should be taken to safely rule out a pathological fracture caused by lymphatic bony invasion.