Treatment of aged osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures by percutaneous kyphoplasty

Objective To explore the clinical effect of percutaneous kyphoplasty(PKP) in the treatment of aged osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture.Methods From January 2005 to December 2008,36 patients(48 vertebrae) with aged osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture were treated by PKP.All the operations were performed under the guidance of C arm X-ray machine.The clinical effect was evaluated by observing the charges of visual analog scale(VAS),height of vertebral bodies and Cobb's angle.Results All cases had rapid,significant and sustained improvement in back pain following PKP.Vertebral body height significantly recovered after operation.The anterior and midline vertebral body height was equivalent to(56.10±14.59)% and(59.86±19.64)% of posterior vertebral body respectively,and the proportion increased to(82.36±26.54)% and(86.72±23.26)% after operation.The Cobb's angle improved from(10.1±3.2)° preoperatively to(6.3±3.4)° postoperatively.(VAS)decreased from 8.7±1.2 preoperatively to 1.4±0.8 postoperatively.Conclusions The PKP technique has advantages of little hurt and short operation time.It can relieve the pain rapidly and effectively.It's safe and effective for aged osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture.