Objective To explore the correlative factors affecting the compl ications resulting from cement leakage after percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral body compression fractures (OVCF). Methods From February 2005 to October 2008, 71 patients with OVCF were treated by PKP and were retrospectively analyzed. There were 16 males and 55 females, and the average age was 71.5 years (range, 52-91 years). The average duration of disease was 5.7 months (range, 1-11 months). A total of 171 vertebra were involved in fracture including 19 cases of single vertebral fractures, 21 cases of double vertebral fractures, 20 cases of three vertebral fractures, and 11 cases of more than three vertebral fractures. All the treated vertebra were divided into acute (86 vertebra) or subacute (85 vertebra) state based on changes in MRI signal intensity. There was no radiculopathy or myelopathy. The average injected cement volumewas 4.6 mL (range, 1.5-6.5 mL). The treatment efficacy was assessed by observing the change in anterior and middle vertebral column height, Cobb angle, visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry functional score at preoperation, 3 days after operation and last follow-up. The patients were divided into cement leakage group and no cement leakage group. All the compl ications were recorded, and then the correlative factors affecting the compl ications were analyzed. Results All the cases had rapid and significant improvement in back pain following PKP. All patients were followed up for 14 months (range, 7-18 months). There was no cement extravasation resulting in radiculopathy or myelopathy. Four patients (5.63%) had lung-related compl ications. During the follow-up, 9 recurrence vertebral fractures were observed in 6 patients (8.45%). The anterior and middle vertebral column height, Cobb angle, VAS and Oswestry score were significantly improved when compared with preoperation (P lt; 0.05). Cement leakage occurred in 17 (9.94%) vertebral bodies; of 17 cases, the cement leaked into the paravertebral space in 7 cases, intervertebral space in 6 cases, channel of needl ing insertion in 3 cases, and spinal canal in 1 case. Univariate analysis showed statistically significant differences (P lt; 0.05) in preoperative anterior and middle vertebral column height, injected cement volume and vertebral body wall incompetence between the cement leakage group and no cement leakage group. There were no significant differences (P gt; 0.05) in preoperative Cobb angle, freshness of vertebral fracture, location of operative vertebrae and operative approach between the two groups. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the injected cement volume [odds ratio (OR)=3.105, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.674-5.759, P lt; 0.01] and vertebral body wall incompetence (OR=11.960, 95%CI=3.512-40.729, P lt; 0.01) were the predominant variable associated with the compl ications resulted fromcement leakage. Conclusion The injected cement volume and vertebral body wall incompetence were the factors affecting the compl ications. The improvement of surgical technique is the capital factor that may reduce the compl ications in the PKP.
To assess long-term outcomes of reoperation for recurrent lumbar disc herniation, and to compare results of different methods. Methods There were 95 patients who had reoperation for recurrent lumbar discherniation between February 1998 to February 2003, among whom a total of 89 (93.7%) were followed up and their primary data were reviewed. There were 76 patients, with the mean age of 42 years (range from 23 to 61), who met the inclusion criteria and were included. Among them, there were 55 males and 21 females. All patients had the history of more than one sciatic nervepain. The mean recurrent time was 69 months(range from 8 to 130 months). There were 48 patients in L4,5 and 28 patients in L5, S1, of whom we chose 30 to undergo larger vertebral plate discectomy (or two-side fenestration) and nucleus pulpose discectomy (group A), 24 to undergo the whole vertebral discectomy (group B) and 22 to undergo the whole vertebral discectomy and 360degrees intervertebral fusion(group C). The patients’ cl inical results in the three groups were compared, and the cl inical curative effects were evaluated by using cl inical functional assessment standard. Results Cl inical outcomes were excellent or good in 80.3% of the patients, including 80.0% of group A, 79.2% of group B and 81.8% of group C. There was no significant difference in each group (P gt; 0.05). These three groups were not different in age, pain-free interval and follow-up duration (P gt; 0.05). The mean intraoperative blood losses in the three groups were (110.7 ± 98.8), (278.7 ± 256.3), (350.7 ± 206.1) mL, respectively. The mean surgery time were (65.9 ± 22.8), (111.6 ± 24.3), (127.3 ± 26.7) minutes, respectively, and the mean hospital ization time were (6.7 ± 1.4), (10.2 ± 1.8), (12.2 ± 2.3) days, respectively. Group A was significantly less than group B or C (P lt; 0.05) and there was no significant difference between group B and C. All the patients were followed up for 36 to 96 months with an average of 86 months, and with (87.6 ± 27.0), (84.5 ± 19.8), (83.6 ± 13.5) months of group A, B and C, respectively. At the endof the follow-up, there were more cases of spinal instabil ity at the same level in group B (19 patients) than in group A (1 patient) or group C (no patient) in X-ray, and the difference was significant (P lt; 0.05). Conclusion Reoperation for recurrent lumbar disc herniation is effective. Larger vertebral plate discectomy or tow-side fenestration is recommended for managing recurrent lumbar disc herniation.