Abstract
BACKGROUND: Vertebral height loss of fractured vertebrae treated by percutaneous vertebral augmentation (PVA) for osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCFs) during follow-up had been reported. Mostly, vertebral height loss and its relevant terms (e.g., "recompression", "recollapse" and "refracture") were defined according to immediate postoperative vertebral height as the baseline in published studies. By contrast, vertebral height deterioration (VHD) was defined according to preoperative vertebral height as the baseline in the present study. The aim of the study was to reveal predictors for VHD in fractured vertebrae operated by percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP), with a specific focus on surgical factors. METHODS: All patients with OVCFs treated by PVP between April 2016 and September 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were followed up for at least 12 months after procedure according to treatment protocol. VHD was defined as the presence of a decrease of vertebral height at final follow-up compared to preoperative. Clinical, radiological and surgical factors that might affect occurrence of VHD were assessed using univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: A total of 543 patients (females 80%, age 73.2 ± 8.1 years) with 681 fractured vertebrae who underwent PVP were enrolled. Mean follow-up time was 28.9 ± 13.4 months (range, 12-59 months). Incidence of VHD in fractured vertebrae was 48.9% (333/681). One clinical factor and four radiological factors, including fracture age (OR = 0.513, 95% CI 0.385-0.683, p = 0.000), fracture location (OR = 2.878, 95% CI 1.994-4.152, p = 0.000), fracture severity (OR = 0.521, 95% CI 0.386-0.703, p = 0.000), cortical defect on lateral wall (OR = 2.535, 95% CI 1.351-4.758, p = 0.004) and intravertebral cleft (OR = 2.362, 95% CI 1.488-3.750, p = 0.000), were independent predictors for VHD. However, all the surgical factors evaluated were not significant in final model analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical factors might play a negligible effect on VHD. VHD might be due to natural course of fracture/osteoporosis.