Abstract:

BACKGROUND: There are many clinical experiences for percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) and percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) in treatment of thoracic and lumbar vertebral compression fractures; however, relevant evidence-based medicine studies are rare.
OBJECTIVE: To systematically review and evaluate the effectiveness and safety of PVP and PKP for treating thoracic and lumbar vertebral compression fractures.
METHODS: Chinese studies were sought and included in the review if they were randomized controlled trials concerning PVP versus PKP for thoracic and lumbar vertebral compression fractures. Two reviewers independently screened the studies for eligibility, evaluated the quality and extracted the data from the eligible studies, with confirmation by cross-checking. Divergences of opinion were settled by discussion or consulted by the expert. Data were processed by RevMan 5.0.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Seven studies involving 398 patients met the inclusion criteria. The baseline of patients’ characteristics was comparable in all the studies. The follow-up duration was 4 or 6 weeks. There was no significant difference to improve VAS score; but it was significant for the improvement of the Cobb angle (P < 0.001); Compared with PKP, the incidence of postoperative leakage of bone cement after PVP was lower (P = 0.05). Because of few studies and small samples, more high quality trials with large samples and longer following-up are proposed.