Debates of the Effectiveness of Vertebroplasty

Yang, Jun Young

Abstract

Vertebroplasty has become a common treatment for painful osteoporotic vertebral fractures, but there is limited evidence to support its use. We are debating what the effectiveness of vertebroplasty. Especially, published paper by Buchbinder using multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial methods, there were no beneficial effect of vertebroplasty as compared with a sham procedure in patients with painful osteoporotic vertebral fractures, at 1 week or at 1, 3, or 6 months after treatment. We have some problems about the risk of subsequent vertebral fractures, particularly in vertebrae that are adjacent to treated levels, sometimes after cement has leaked into the adjacent disk. But according to the previous many study and my experiences, Percutaneous vertebroplasty should be considered as a valid therapeutic option in symptomatic acute amyelic osteoporotic vertebral fractures with refractory pain after a short period of analgesic drug therapy. Therefore, I reviewed Buchbinder's result and previous similar papers.