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Vertebral augmentation

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Vertebroplasty is a medical spinal procedure where bone cement is injected through a small hole in the skin (percutaneously) into a fractured vertebra with the goal of relieving the pain of osteoporotic compression fractures.


Procedure

The main goal of vertebroplasty is to reduce pain caused by the fracture by stabilizing the bone. Vertebroplasty is typically performed by a spine surgeon or interventional radiologist. It is a minimally invasive procedure and patients usually go home the same day as the procedure. Patients are given local anesthesia and light sedation for the procedure, though it can be performed using only local anesthetic for patients with severe lung disease who cannot tolerate sedatives well.


During the procedure, acrylic cement is injected with a biopsy needle into the collapsed or fractured vertebra. The needle is placed with x-ray guidance. The acrylic cement quickly dries and forms a support structure within the vertebra that provide stabilization and strength. The needle makes a small puncture in the patient's skin that is easily covered with a small bandage after the procedure.


History

Vertebroplasty was first performed in France in the mid 1980’s by Drs. Deramond and Galibert with the first US procedures being performed at the University of Maryland during the early 1990’s. The indications for vertebroplasty are for the treatment of painful vertebral compression fractures due to osteoporosis and cancer. Vertebroplasty is typically performed for patients who have failed a course of conservative treatment who still have a significant amount of back pain.


There are approximately 750,000 vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) due to osteoporosis that occur in the US each year with only 1/3 being diagnosed by physicians. Approximately 130,000 patients with painful VCF are treated with minimally invasive surgery (vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty) annually in the US. VCFs are most common in the aged population where bone quality has deteriorated due to osteoporosis (the disease characterized by bone loss increasing the risk of fragility fractures including hip, vertebra and wrist). Prior to vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty, VCFs were treated strictly with conservative medical management which included pain medications, bracing and bed rest. Several studies have documented a decrease in mobility, patient quality of life and life expectancy due to osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures indicating it is a significant problem for elderly patients. Economic studies have shown there are over 100,000 admissions due to VCFs in the US each year costing in excess of $500 Million/year in the United States alone. As pain medication and bed rest can exacerbate the degree of bone loss and decrease patient mobility leading to other medical problems, the use of minimally invasive treatments like vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty have become increasingly common in the US and Europe to relieve pain and regain patient mobility.

Clinical Research

A Pub Med search www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov returns over 1400 publications for the search word vertebroplasty. These publications vary from simple case series to prospective studies on the efficacy and reported complications of vertebroplasty in patients with osteoporotic and cancer related VCFs. Significant reduction or complete pain relief has been reported in 70-90% of patients treated with vertebral compression fractures due to Osteoporosis and Cancer.


One (1) prospective randomized, controlled clinical trial was recently published in the Lancet, by Wardlaw et al. in 2009 (FREE Study) comparing kyphoplasty (a similar procedure to vertebroplasty) to conservative management for patients suffering from vertebral compression fractures. The study found a significantly greater quality of life increase (SF-36 PCS score p<0.0001) for patients who underwent kyphoplasty when compared to those who followed a course of medical management at 1 month, 3 months and 1 year post operatively. The study enrolled 300 patients (138 in the kyphoplasty group and 128 in the control group).


Two prospective, randomized, controlled, blinded clinical studies were recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in August of 2009. These two studies (Kallmes D et al. and Buchbinder R. et al.) compared vertebroplasty to a sham procedure (facet injections) Combined, the two studies enrolled 209 patients (103 to vertebroplasty and 106 to sham treatment) and compared pain reduction on visual analog scale (1-10 with 10 being worst imaginable pain). Both studies concluded that vertebroplasty was no more beneficial than sham procedure at decreasing pain levels in patients with vertebral compression fractures at 3 months, 6 months and 1 year post treatment. The lead authors have suggested their results call into question the value of vertebroplasty as they are the only randomized controlled clinical trials comparing a sham procedure to vertebroplasty. Since their publication, these two papers have generated significant media attention in the lay press, referencing the NEJM articles, and questioning whether vertebroplasty should be performed. Another study published in Australia found little difference in pain relief between pateints treated with vertebroplasty and those that received a sham procedure but it was not a randomized controlled, clinical trial.


In response to the two NEJM publications, multiple professional societies including the North American Spine Society (NASS), the Society for Interventional Radiology (SIR) and the American Journal of Neuroradiology (AJNR) have published official responses to the recent New England Journal of Medicine vertebroplasty articles. These societies have applauded the effort that was involved with performing these studies but also pointed out numerous flaws.


Significant scrutiny of the NEJM studies has lead to the following criticisms:


1. Patient Selection Bias: 64% and 70% of the patients who met the inclusion criteria for the two NEJM studies refused to participate indicating the most painful patients requested vertebroplasty rather than risk randomization in the study.


2. Both studies enrolled patients with fractures up to 1 year old with pain scores as low as 3 out of 10 on visual analog scale. These patients are not representative of the typical patient who benefits from vertebroplasty, whose pain scores are routinely higher (7-9 out of 10) and are significantly less mobile.


3. Crossover rates: 1 or 3 months after initial treatment, patients in the Kallmes study from either arm were allowed to crossover (allowed to switch treatments). Crossover rates in patients who received the sham procedure were significantly higher (43%) compared to those that received vertebroplasty (12%).


4. The Kallmes study actually reported a trend towards higher clinically meaningful pain improvement in the vertebroplasty group but did not have enough patients enrolled to demonstrate statistical significance (only 68 of 113 patients received vertebroplasty).


5. The control groups (sham procedure) for both studies received facet blocks. Facet blocks have been reported to provide pain relief for up to 12 weeks post injection, especially in patients with older VCFs. This calls into question whether the control groups actually represented non-treatment. The need for further studies is important to continue to understand which patients will benefit from vertebroplasty and which succeed with conservative management. The prospective randomized studies Vertos and Vertos II should offer more information on appropriate patient selection.


Risks

Some of the associated risks that can be produced are from the leakage of acrylic cement outside of the vertebral body. Although severe complications are extremely rare, it is important to know that infection, bleeding, numbness, tingling, headache, rib fractures, pneumothorax and paralysis may ensue due to misplacement of the needle or cement. These particular risks are decreased by the use of x-ray or other radiological imaging to ensure proper placement of the needles and cement. When the cement has leaked into blood vessels, heart and lung damage and in some extremely rare cases, deaths have occurred.


Kyphoplasty/Percutaneous Vertebral Augmentation

A related procedure known as kyphoplasty or more recently referred to as percutaneous vertebral augmentation involves the creation of a cavity in a collapsed vertebra, followed by injection of bone cement to stabilize the fracture. Reduction of the fracture including height restoration can occur in some acute fractures. The benefit of percutaneous vertebral augmentation is it creates a space for cement placement and often utilizes a much thicker bone cement providing the physician more control during cement delivery. This decreases the risk of cement leakage where it was not intended, potentially leading to fewer complications. You can read more about kyphoplasty/percutaneous vertebral augmentation on Misplaced Pages.


See also


References

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