Author:

Abstract:

Balloon kyphoplasty is a new minimally invasive treatment option for painful osteoporotic vertebral body compression fractures. It involves the percutaneous insertion and inflation of a balloon tamp in a fractured vertebral body to restore its height, while creating a cavity to be filled up with cement. We performed kyphoplasty in our department on 8 patients between 37 and 90 years old (mean age 64,7 years). The procedure was performed in, on the average, 84 minutes (range from 50 to 110 minutes). The pain reduction was remarkable. At discharge from the hospital 5 patients did not require analgesics anymore. After treatment the wedge angle correction was 4.14° (between -2.5°and 9.5°) and the mean improvement in local kyphosis 4.29° or 34.09%. Cement leakage occurred twice but with no clinical significance. One major complication occurred, namely a retroperitoneal bleeding which appeared unrelated. The anatomical restoration allows breaking the patient's downward spiral, and results in a reduction of morbidity and mortality. However, current follow-up data are too limited to conclude that the procedure is safe and that the advantageous results persist over a prolonged time span.