A Toolbox of Bone Consolidation for the Interventional Radiologist

Bone consolidation is increasingly used in the treatment of both benign and malignant bone conditions. Percutaneous vertebroplasty, for example, has been shown to be useful in vertebral compression fractures in the VAPOUR trial which showed its superiority to placebo for pain reduction in the treatment of acute vertebral compressive fractures. Further tools have since been developed, such as kyphoplasty, spinal implants, and even developments in bone cements itself in attempt to improve outcome, such as chemotherapy-loaded cement or cement replacements such as radio-opaque silicon polymer. More importantly, bone fixation and its combination with cement have been increasingly performed to improve outcome. Interventional radiologists must first know the tools available, before they can best plan for their patients. This review article will focus on the tool box available for the modern interventional radiologist.