The Incidence of Recurrent Vertebral Fracture after Kyphoplasty or Vertebroplasty

Objective: The purpose of this study is to identify incidence of recurrent vertebral compression fracture after kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty in patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed medical records and radiographic findings including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of all consecutive patients who underwent kyphoplasty (21 patients had 26 fractures) and vertebroplasty (29 patients had 35 fractures) at our institution from 2005 to 2007. Recurrent fractures were diagnosed with simple X-rays and MRI. Results: Confounding factors of age and bone mineral density (BMD) were considered and found to have no statistically significant difference between no fracture group and recurrent fracture group. Mean cement injection per vertebral body was 4.6±1.4 mL and 4.0±1.0 mL for the kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty groups respectively (p=0.061). There were 7 recurrent fractures in patients who underwent percutaneous vertebral augmentation, 4 patients in the kyphoplasty group and 3 patients in the vertebroplasty group respectively. The risk of cement extravasation was 11.5% with kyphoplasty versus 17.1% with vertebroplasty. There were 2 cement extravasations resulting in radiculopathy or myelopathy in the kyphoplasty group. Conclusion: The incidence of recurrent fracture after kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty are 15.4% and 8.6% respectively. But the difference in both groups was not statistically significant (p=0.446). (J Kor Neurotraumatol Soc 2008;4:84-88)