TUESDAY, April 17 (HealthDay News) -- Painful osteoporotic compression and burst fractures of the spine can be successfully treated with kyphoplasty, with good results in at least the first 15 months, according to a study published in the April issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine.
Michael Stoffel, M.D., of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University, Bonn, Germany, and colleagues analyzed data from 74 patients who underwent kyphoplasty for 118 fractures, of which 38 percent were osteoporotic compression fractures and 62 percent burst fractures.
In all cases the surgery led to improvements in kyphotic deformity, pain, mental health and physical health. Although procedure-related secondary narrowing of the spinal canal by the retropulsed posterior wall is a theoretical side effect of the procedure, it did not occur among the study sample. The complications that did occur included one symptomatic extravertebral cement leakage, one wound infection, and two nerve root contusions.
The patients were followed up for a mean 15 months, during which time to clinical improvements were sustained. "Kyphoplasty is effective in the treatment of painful osteoporotic vertebral compression and burst fractures, at least under medium-term conditions," the authors conclude.
Abstract
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