Percutaneous vertebroplasty in Iranian patients with osteoporotic vertebral fractures

Osteoporotic compression vertebral fractures are common clinical problems. In those with refractory fractures, percutaneous cement augmentation has been suggested. The aim of this study was to evaluate the functional outcome of percutaneous vertebroplasty in Iranian patients with refractory osteoporotic fractures. We retrospectively studied 37 osteoporotic fractures in 28 patients (6 men and 22 women), who had been treated with vertebroplasty from August 2009 to June 2012. The mean follow-up period was 12.1±3.6 (range: 6-42 months). The patients' states were assessed by the visual analogue scale and short form-36 questionnaire. Student t test was used to analyze the pre- and postoperative data. The mean age of the patients was 71.6±6.1 (range: 50 to 91 years) and the most common fractured vertebrae were L1 and T12. There were five patients with two levels of vertebral fractures and two with three levels. Vertebroplasty could improve the scores for pain and quality of life from preoperative 7.6 ± 1.4 and 44.8 ± 7.6 to 1.8 ± 0.4 and 74.1 ± 5.3 at four weeks after surgery. At the last follow-up visit, this improvement continued with no significant decline. The most common complication was cement leakage (32.4% per vertebra), wherein all of of the patients were clinically asymptomatic. Adjacent vertebral fracture occurred in six cases. By understanding the risks, we propose vertebroplasty in Iranian patients with refractory osteoporotic vertebral fracture. If correctly performed, this procedure can significantly improve the pain and quality of life in these elderly osteoporotic patients.