Percutaneous vertebroplasty for the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral fracture in the elderly

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of percutaneous vertebroplasty in the treatment of old symp -tomatic osteoporotic vertebral fractures in elderly .Methods 56 patients with osteoporotic vertebral fractures in elder-ly were selected and treated with percutaneous vertebroplasty .The age of the patients were from 67 to 83 years old, average of 72.5 years old.Among them,there were 15 male cases and 41 female cases.The Cobb angles,Visual Ana-logue Scale score ,and postoperative complications were measured .Results All the operations were successfully com-pleted which took the time from 30 min to 55min.2-5ml bone cement was used in the operation .Pains of 56 patients were significantly reduced or disappeared .VAS：（7.9 ±1.5） of pre-operation,VAS：（2.3 ±1.2） of post operation, Cobb angles：（25.8 ±4.9） of pre-operation,Cobb angles：（12.6 ±3.6） of post operation.The patients could move after operation with the protection of waist in 3 to 9 days.After the follow-up visit of 2 to 14 months,the pains of patients were disappear , no complications of nerves injury , pulmonary embolism and bone cement leakage of spinal canal.Conclusion It suggests that percutaneous vertebroplasty can relieve the pain and improve the life quality of the patients with old symptomatic osteoporotic vertebral fractures .It is worthy of clinical promotion . Key words: Osteoporosis; Fractures; Vertebroplasty; Aged