Percutaneous vertebroplasty with high- versus low-viscosity bone cement for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures

Abstract

Background: There is no consensus on the best choice between high- and low-viscosity bone cement for percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP). This study aimed to compare the clinical outcomes and leakage between three cements with different viscosities in treating osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures.Methods: This is a prospective study comparing patients who were treated with PVP: group A (n = 99, 107 vertebrae) with high-viscosity OSTEOPAL V cement, group B (n = 79, 100 vertebrae) with low-viscosity OSTEOPAL V cement, and group C (n = 88, 102 vertebrae) with low-viscosity Eurofix VTP cement. Postoperative pain severity was evaluated using the visual analog scale. Cement leakage was evaluated using radiography and computed tomography.Results: There was no significant difference in the incidence of cement leakage between the three groups (group A 20.6%, group B 24.2%, group C 20.6%, P = 0.767). All three groups showed significant reduction in postoperative pain scores but did not differ significantly in pain scores at postoperative 2 days (group A 2.01 ± 0.62, group B 2.15 ± 0.33, group C 1.92 ± 0.71, P = 0.646). During the 6 months after cement implantation, significantly less reduction in the fractured vertebral body height was noticed in group B and group C than in group A (group A 19.0%, group B 8.1%, group C 7.3%, P = 0.009).Conclusions: Low-viscosity cement has comparable incidence of leakage compared to high-viscosity cement in PVP for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. It also can better prevent postoperative loss of vertebral body height.

Cardiac Perforation Caused by Cement Embolism after Percutaneous Vertebroplasty: A Report of Two Cases

“…Among the multiple risk factors for cement leakage, cement viscosity and injected cement volume are actively controllable factors 14 . It has been suggested that only injection of cement above a certain volume will be able to restore the strength and stiffness of the vertebra and relieve pain 15,16 . But this increased volume of cement injection increased the risk of cement leakage.…”