Background: Osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF) is the most common complication of osteoporosis, however, debate persists over which procedure of percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) or balloon kyphoplasty (BKP) is a better treatment. We performed a metaanalysis of prospective, randomized controlled and clinical controlled trials of PVP and BKP to determine the efficacy and safety for the treatment of OVCFs to reach a relatively conclusive answer.
Materials and methods: We searched computerized databases comparing efficacy and safety of PVP and BKP in osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. These reports included pain relief, functional capacity (Oswestry disability index [ODI] score), anterior vertebral body height (AVBH), kyphotic angle and complications (i.e. cement leakage, incident fractures). Studies were assessed for methodological bias and potential reasons for heterogeneity were explored.
Results: As of March 15, 2013, a PubMed search resulted in 761 articles, of which eleven studies encompassing 789 patients, met the inclusion criteria. The average length of followup is 17 months and 4.6% patients were lost to followup. Results of metaanalysis indicated that BKP is more effective for short term pain relief. In addition, BKP is more effective to restore the AVBH (anterior vertebral body height), ODI and kyphotic angle of OVCFs. Moreover, BKP need more polymethylmethacrylate amount.
Conclusions: In terms of better effectiveness of BKP procedure, we believe BKP to be superior over PVP for the treatment of osteoporotic VCFs.
Keywords: Balloon kyphoplasty; Vertebroplasty; bone cements; metaanalysis; osteoporotic fractures; percutaneous vertebroplasty; vertebral compression fracture.