Percutaneous vertebroplasty with polymethylmethacrylate. Technique, indications, and results.

Percutaneous vertebroplasty with acrylic cement consists of injecting polymethylmethacrylate into vertebral bodies destabilized by osseous lesions. The aim is to obtain an analgesic effect by reinforcing lesions of the spine. The major indications are vertebral angiomas, osteoporotic vertebral crush syndromes, and malignant spinal tumors. The clinically significant complications occur predominantly in patients with spinal metastatics, but in the great majority of cases they resolve with medical treatment.