Ming-Min Shi MD, Xun-Zi Cai MD, Tiao Lin MD, Wei Wang MD, Shi-Gui Yan MD
Is There Really No Benefit of Vertebroplasty for Osteoporotic Vertebral Fractures? A Meta-analysis
Background Osteoporotic vertebral compressed fractures (VCFs) are the most common osteoporotic fractures. Although percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) reportedly relieves pain and improves function, a recent pooled analysis from two multicenter randomized controlled trials concluded the improvement in pain and disability treated with PVP was similar to those with sham surgery. Questions/Purpose Using meta-analysis we therefore asked whether compared with either nonoperative therapy or a sham injection for patients with VCF, PVP would (1) better relieve pain, (2) provide greater improvement in pain-related disability, and (3) increase the recurrence of vertebral fractures. Methods We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Medline, and the Cochrane library using the keywords ‘‘vertebroplasty AND osteoporosis OR fracture’’. We included nine of the 469 articles identified. Using a random effects model, we calculated the weighted mean differences to evaluate the pain reduction at different times as the primary outcome. Pain-related disability was assessed by a quality of life (QOL) measure. Improvement of QOL and recurrence of vertebral fractures were the secondary outcomes. We used subgroup analysis to reinvestigate pain relief and function improvement of PVP based on two different controls: nonoperative therapy and sham injection. The total number of patients was 886. Results Pain scoring was similar between the PVP group and the sham injection group at 1 to 29 days and 90 days. However, compared with nonoperative therapy, PVP reduced pain at all times studied. QOL in the PVP group was improved or tended to be improved compared with QOL for both control groups. The risk of new fractures was similar between the PVP groups and both control groups. Conclusions Different control groups may have accounted for the different conclusions in the literature regarding the ability of PVP to relieve pain and restore function recovery. Compared with nonoperative treatment PVP relieved pain better and improved QOL. PVP did not increase the risk of new frescura.
COMMENTO
La vertebroplastica è una metodica di ripristino della struttura del corpo vertebrale crollato in seguito ad un evento fratturativo, sia da osteoporosi che da metastasi. L’efficacia clinica è nel ridurre immediatamente la sintomatologia dolorosa vertebrale acuta post-fratturativa. Recentemente sono apparsi alcuni studi clinici che contestavano la reale efficacia della metodica, mentre altri studi ipotizzavano un incremento del rischio di ulteriori fratture dei corpi vertebrali viciniori. La metanalisi del gruppo cinese conferma l’efficacia della vertebroplastica sul dolore e l’assenza di un incremento del rischio di ulteriori fratture.