Comparative Study of Percutaneous Vertebral Body Perforation and Vertebroplasty for the Treatment of Painful Vertebral Compression Fractures

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Fig 1.
Comparison of reductions in postoperative VAS scores during follow-up between the perforation and PVP groups. The VAS score decrease after vertebroplasty was significantly greater than with vertebral perforation at all time points.
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Fig 2.
Correlation between pain relief for 3 months and vertebral percentage of compression. We compared pain relief between the perforation and PVP groups. A, Patients with marked vertebral percentage of compression (>70%). B, Patients with slight vertebral percentage of compression (<30%).

Table 1:

Baseline characteristics of 108 patients treated for VCFs^a

Characteristic	Perforation Group	PVP Group	P Value
No. of patients	58	50
Mean age (yr) (range)	76.7 ± 4.2	77.5 ± 8.4	.35
No. of women (%)	48	42
Preop. VAS score	7.0 ± 2.1	7.0 ± 1.4	.82
Mean duration of symptoms (day)	127.8 ± 105	145.3 ± 112	.68
Posterior destruction of VB	(+) 19	(+) 10	.09
	(–) 39	(–) 40
No. of patients with preexisting VCFs	(+) 34	(+) 31	.42
	(–) 24	(–) 19
Distribution of treated VCFs	T7-L5	T6-L4
Presence of kyphotic change	(+) 15	(+) 18	.15
	(–) 43	(–) 32
Preop. vertebral percentage of compression (%)	45.9 ± 29.7	42.5 ± 14.2	.64
Preop. intravertebral cleft on MRI	(+) 30	(+) 15	.02
	(–) 28	(–) 35
Communication of puncture holes	(+) 15
	(–) 43

Note:—preop indicates preoperative; VB, vertebral body.
↵a Statistical analyses were performed with the Mann-Whitney U test or the Fisher exact test.

Table 2:

Comparison of complications between the perforation and PVP groups^a

Complication	Perforation Group	PVP Group	P Value
New fracture after surgery (%)	1/27 (3.7)	10/42 (23.8)	.042
	(median, 10.1 mo)	(follow-up, 10.0 mo)
		16/42 (38.1)
		(median, 15.0 mo)
Progression of vertebral collapse after surgery (%)	6/27 (22.2)	8/50 (16.0)	.380
Pulmonary embolism	0	0
Infection	0	0
Pneumothorax	0	0