Kyphoplasty for the treatment of very severe osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture.

OBJECTIVE

A retrospective evaluation of the clinical outcome and technical feasibility of kyphoplasty for the treatment of very severe osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (vsOVCF).

METHODS

Patients with vsOVCF were treated with kyphoplasty and followed-up for 1 year. Vertebral body height variation, kyphotic angle, back pain (visual analogue scale [VAS]) and Oswestry disability index (ODI) were evaluated preoperatively, postoperatively, 1 month, 3 months and 1 year after treatment.

RESULTS

In total, 35 patients (49 vertebrae) were treated with kyphoplasty. There were no cases of spinal or extraspinal injury, infection, bleeding, pulmonary embolism, epidural cement leakage, stroke or cardiac arrest as a result of treatment. There were significant postoperative improvements in all outcome measures (vertebral body height variation, kyphotic angle, VAS and ODI); these improvements were maintained during the follow-up period.

CONCLUSION

Kyphoplasty is an effective and minimally invasive procedure for the treatment of vsOVCF.