Open vertebroplasty for treating the metastatic compression fractures of the vertebral body and reducing pain syndrome

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of the operative procedure, open vertebroplasty, by comparing and evaluating the clinical results before and after open vertebroplasty in the treatment of vertebral fractures with spinal canal compression. Success of the surgery is defined by increased or reduced pain intensity before and after the treatment, as assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Participants and methods: Data for the patients treated for vertebral fractures with open vertebroplasty were retrospectively collected at the Institute for Orthopaedics of the Clinical Hospital Centre Osijek. The analyzed data included: gender, duration of the illness, the intensity of pain before and after the treatment (using the VAS), neurological status, radiological changes of the treated vertebral segment, before and after the treatment, grade of vertebral fracture, and extracorporeal cement leakage from the vertebra body to the surrounding tissue during the procedure. Results: The study included 23 patients, of whom 13 were females and ten were males. The difference in pain before and after the surgery was statistically significant. All the patients complained of pain before the surgery, and the pain intensity median was 8 (interquartile range 7, 5 to 9). However, after the surgery, pain intensity decreased in all the patients, and the pain intensity median was 2.5 (interquartile range 2 to 3). Conclusion: Improvement in clinical results of the treatment of vertebral metastatic fractures with spinal stenosis with open vertebroplasty proves to be significant.