Percutaneous vertebroplasty reduces pain of collapsed vertebrae without increasing risk of new fractures over the long term, according to Italian researchers.
Among 1,005 consecutive patients who had a cement injected into frail vertebrae, pain dropped a clinically relevant 6.5 points on the 11-point visual analog scale (P<0.0001), said Giovanni C. Anselmetti, M.D., of the Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment, in Candiolo.
Fractures were no more common than those reported historically with medical therapy or no treatment though asymptomatic leakage of the cement into veins or the disc occurred with 31.2% and 1.5% of patients, respectively, he reported at the Society of Interventional Radiology meeting here.
Dr. Anselmetti concluded that vertebroplasty is effective for long-term pain relief regardless of the pathology.
The study included 765 women and 240 men who were treated in 3,752 vertebrae primarily due to osteoporosis (67%) or metastases (20.4%). The mean age was 70.1 (range 26 to 98). The majority of vertebrae treated were in the thoracic and lumbar spine.
The procedure involved injecting 1.5 to 5 mL (mean 2.5) of a cement mixture containing polymethylmethacrylate in each affected vertebra. Most procedures were done under local anesthesia (99.2%) and guided by digital fluoroscopy alone (86.9) or with CT (13.1%).
http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/SIRMeeting/tb1/5224
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