Pulmonary cement embolism complicating percutaneous kyphoplasty: A case report

Vertebral cement augmentation procedures, as kyphoplasty (KP) or percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP), are commonly used for the management of pain of the vertebral column usually due to fractures related to traumatic injury, osteoporosis or metastatic lesion. It is a useful and safe technique with few complications. Among them, symptomatic pulmonary cement embolism (PCE) can happened, even rarely described in the literature, leading to severe cardio-respiratory manifestations depending on the location and size of the cement emboli.

A 55 yo woman presented with atypical chest pain and presyncope three weeks after a motor vehicle accident resulting in an L1 compression fracture treated with kyphoplasty. She was hemodynamically stable. Blood tests showed D-Dimer 0.29 μg/mL, troponin <5ng/mL, Brain Natriuretic Protein 14 ng/mL and a PaO2 of 99 mmHg on arterial blood gas analysis. A computed tomography scan of chest showed linear hyperdense foreign bodies in two segmental pulmonary arteries at the level of middle lobe and right lower lobe compatible with pulmonary cement embolism. Anticoagulation with rivaroxaban for sixth months resulted in resolution of symptoms.

In this case, the pulmonary cement embolism occurred after kyphoplasty, which is associated with less risk of PCE than vertebroplasty. The procedure was done under biplanar fluoroscopy and no leakage of cement was noted, which would raise suspicion for CPE. Repeat imagine after this procedure is not routinely done. This case demonstrates that systematic imaging post procedure should be considered.An anticoagulation with rivaroxaban seems to be effective in our patient.