Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) is firstly reported in clinical application in 1987 and it has been widely used and achieved good results in the treatment of senile osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture and vertebral tumor. However, some issues still need further study.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize studies regarding the advanced clinical application of bone cement materials in PVP published both at home and abroad, and to understand the main theoretical perspectives and controversial issues about the vertebroplasty.
METHODS: A computer-based online retrieval of PubMed database from January 2008 to January 2011 and CNKI database from January 2006 to January 2011 was performed, with the key words of vertebroplasty in English and in Chinese, and the language was limited of English and Chinese, respectively. A total of 725 documents were screened out and 28 of them were analyzed according to the inclusive criteria.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: PVP has been proved to be effective for the treatment of senile osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture and vertebral tumors. PVP may eliminate or relieve pain symptoms, also enhance the vertebral body, thus preventing further collapse. However, some issues and technologies still need further exploration, for example, how to choose the fractured vertebrae? Unilateral or bilateral pedicle puncture? PVP or percutaneous kyphoplasty? How to choose the injection timing and volume of bone cement? How to avoid puncture damage and leakage of bone cement?