Percutaneous intervertebral bridging cementoplasty for adjacent multilevel osteoporotic thoracolumbar fractures with vertebral endplate-disc complex injury: technical note

This paper describes a minimally invasive technique of percutaneous intervertebral bridging cementoplasty (PIBC) to augment the fractured vertebrae and immobilize the intervertebral space with endplate-disc complex injury simultaneously. Thirty-two patients with adjacent multilevel osteoporotic thoracolumbar fractures (AMOTLFs) and vertebral endplate-disc complex injury (EDCI) treated by PIBC were retrospectively reviewed. The PIBC technique was a combination of puncture, balloon expansion and bridging cementoplasty. The clinical and radiological assessments were reviewed. The operation time was 82.8 ± 32.5 min, and blood loss was 76.9 ± 31.7 mL. A cement bridge was connected between the two fractured vertebrae across the injured intervertebral space. VAS at three time points including pre-operation, post-operation 1 day and final follow-up was 6.9 ± 0.9, 2.9 ± 0.8 and 1.7 ± 0.8, respectively; ODI at three time points was (71.1 ± 7.8)%, (18.4 ± 5.7)%, and (10.3 ± 5.7)%, respectively; Cobb angle at three time points was 46.0° ± 10.4°, 25.9° ± 8.5°, and 27.5° ± 7.1°, respectively. Compared with pre-operation, VAS, ODI and Cobb angle were significantly improved at post-operation 1 day and final follow-up (P < 0.05). Clinical asymptomatic cement leakage was observed in thirteen patients. No vessel or neurological injury was observed. PIBC may be an alternative way of treatment for AMOTLFs with EDCI. The technique is a minimally invasive surgery to augment the fractured vertebrae and immobilize the injured intervertebral space simultaneously.