OBJECTIVE: to evaluate clinical and radiological results and complications of patients undergoing kyphoplasty in the treatment of painful osteoporotic fractures. METHODS: twenty-four patients with painful osteoporotic fractures were submitted do Kyphoplasty. Out of these, 19 (74%) were female and 5 (24%) were male. Mean age was of 71.3 years. The average follow-up (FU) was of 19 months (3 to 29). The pain was analyzed through visual analogic scale (VAS) in the pre-operative and the last follow-up visit. Radiographic analyses were made in the pre-op and the last FU visit using the amount of improvement in anterior vertebral body height (A), medium vertebral body height (M), posterior vertebral body height (P), and Cobb angle (Kyphosis) in the region of the fracture. RESULTS: 24 patients with 34 fractures were analyzed. Out of the 24 patients, 15 (62.5%) presented with only one fracture and 9 (37.5%) with multiple fractures. Out of these 34 fractures, 20 (58.8%) were in the thoracic spine and 14 (42.2%) in the lumbar spine. VAS average score in the pre-op was 9.3, and in the last FU it was 3.2 (improvement of 6.1). Median improvement in the anterior height was of 0.73 mm, in the median part of 1.3 mm, and in the posterior part of the vertebral body, 0.5 mm. Local kyphosis improved 1.32º (from 11,06º to 12,4º). Two complications were observed: one case of migration of the cement to the disc and one fracture of the adjacent level. CONCLUSION: in this series, kyphoplasty proved to be a safe and effective technique, with good improvement of pain in the treatment of osteoporotic fractures. No significant improvement in vertebral height and kyphosis was observed.
Spinal fractures; Vertebroplasty; Treatment outcome
