Percutaneous vertebroplasty

To describe the procedure of percutaneous vertebroplasty and to present our first clinical results of patients treated for benign or malignant painful vertebral body disease. We performed percutaneous vertebroplasty in 31 painful lesions of the spine. Liquid bone cement was injected into the affected vertebral body using fluoroscopic guidance through a bilateral transpedicular approach. Etiology of the bone disease was assessed by biopsy. Pain intensity was assessed before and 1 week after the procedure by standardized catalogue. Percutaneous vertebroplasty was performed in 17 thoracic and in 14 lumbar spine bodies of benign (n = 23) or malignant (n = 8) disease; no clinically relevant complications occurred. All patients reported significant pain relief 1 week after the intervention. One week after treatment, patients were pain-free in 15/31 vertebral bodies, and reported mild residual pain not necessitating narcotic medication in 16/31 cases. In accordance with the literature, percutaneous vertebroplasty proved to be a highly effective, minimal invasive interventional procedure to treat severely painful bone lesions of benign and malignant origin.