Clinical Evaluation of Percutaneous Kyphoplasty for the Management of Osteoblastic-Related Metastatic Vertebral Lesions

Abstract

To retrospectively evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) for the management of osteoblastic-related metastatic vertebral lesions. A total of 31 patients with 58 osteoblastic-related metastatic vertebral lesions underwent PKP were reviewed. The clinical efficacy was assessed based on parameters including visual analogue scale, Oswestry Disability Index, vertebral body height variation and quality of life. Major and minor complications were systematically evaluated to assess the safety of the procedure. Average follow-up period was 22.5 ± 11.1 months(range, 3 to 46 months). The procedure duration time ranged from 50 to 180 minutes (average 96.8 ± 36.9 minutes). Mean visual analogue scale scores decreased significantly from 6.1 ± 1.8 pre-operatively to 2.7 ± 1.5 at 3 days after PKP (p < 0.001), and remained largely immutable at 1 month (2.0 ± 0.7; 31 patients; p < 0.001), 3 months (2.4 ± 1.2; 30 patients; p < 0.001) and 1 year (3.0 ± 1.0; 27 patients; p < 0.001). Oswestry Disability Index scores and vertebral body height variation also changed after the procedure, with significant differences between pre-operative scores and at each follow-up examination (p < 0.001). Mean quality of life scores were 90.8 ± 12.9 pre-operatively and improved to 99.5 ± 12.1(27 patients, p < 0.001) at 1 year after PKP. The only minor encountered complication was bone cement leakage, which was seen in 6.5%(2 of 31) of patients. None of the patients experienced major complications. PKP is a safe and effective treatment strategy for osteoblastic-related metastatic vertebral lesions from a variety of tumor etiologies.