Diagnostics and treatment of osteoporotic vertebral fractures

Authors:

Darko Perović, Igor Borić

Summary

Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease characterized by low bone mass and microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue, with vertebral compressive fractures (VCFs) that may occur as a consequence. Vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) can lead to severe acute and chronic
pain, impaired mobility, reduced quality of life and an increased risk of mortality due to decreased mobility and pulmonary dysfunction. When painful VCFs do come to clinical attention, they are typically treated with optimal pain management (OPM). Although the natural course of pain due to vertebral fractures decreases within the first weeks in the majority of patients, a number of them remain with persistent pain and/or ongoing vertebral collapse. Facet joint injections are an emerging procedure as possible treatment for a subgroup of patients with persistent pain aft er VCFs. In case of vertebral collapse or persistent pain after facet joint injections, patients have to be treated with percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) or percutaneous balloon kyphoplasty (BKP). PVP is a minimally invasive surgical procedure in which bone cement is injected into a fractured vertebra under radiological guidance using fluoroscopy. BKP is a variation of this approach, in which an inflatable balloon tamp is placed in the collapsed vertebra prior to cement injection, in order to create a cavity allowing low pressure injection. For people with painful osteoporotic VCFs refractory to analgesic
treatment, PVP and BKP perform significantly better inunblinded trials than OPM in terms of improving quality of life and reducing pain and disability. It is possible that BKP and PVP may lead to reductions in mortality. In small subgroup of patients with neurological injury related
to an osteoporotic fracture, different open surgical techniques were used to suit different fracture patterns, with good clinical and radiological results.

Sažetak
Osteoporoza je sistemska bolest skeleta karakterizirana smanjenjem koštane gustoće i oštećenjem mikroarhitekture. Moguća posljedica je osteporotska vertebralna fraktura (OVF) koja izaziva akutnu ili kroničnu bol, smanjenu pokretljivost, smanjenu kvalitetu života i povećan rizik smrti zbog smanjene mobilnosti i kardiopulmonalne disfunkcije. Kada se OVF manifestira klinički, osnovno je optimalno liječenje boli (OLB). Iako prirodni tijek u većine bolesnika dovodi do smanjenja bolova u prvih nekoliko tjedana, dio bolesnika ima perzistentnu bol i/ili kolaps kralješka. U bolesnika s perzistentnom boli može se primijeniti intraartikularna injekcija kortikosteroida i anestetika u zigapofi zne zglobove bolnog segmenta (IAI). U bolesnika s kolapsom kralješka ili perzistentnom boli nakon IAI preporučuje se primijeniti perkutanu vertebroplastiku (PVP) ili perkutanu balon kifoplastiku (BKP). PVP je minimalno invazivna operacija u kojoj se uz radiološko navođenje u prelomljeni kralježak utiskuje cement. BKP je varijacija iste tehnike u kojoj se prije aplikacije cementa specijalnim balonom stvara šupljina te se cement utiskuje pod manjim tlakom. U kliničkim studijama dokazan je signifikantan učinak PVP-a i BKP-a u poboljšanju kvalitete života i pokretljivosti, kao i smanjenje bolova u komparaciji s OLB-om, ali u komparaciji s metodom IAI učinak nije signifi kantan. U nekim studijama uočeno je smanjenje mortaliteta nakon PVP-a i BKP-a, ali zbog lošeg dizajna studija taj učinak nije siguran. U skupini bolesnika s neurološkim defi citom primjenjuju se otvorene kirurške tehnike za zbrinjavanje različitih oblika prijeloma i deformiteta s dugotrajno dobrim kliničkim i radiološkim rezultatima.

Vol.: 61

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