gms | German Medical Science

57th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery
Joint Meeting with the Japanese Neurosurgical Society

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

11 - 14 May, Essen

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Ballon kyphoplasty – two years of experience

2 Jahre Erfahrung mit Kyphoplastie

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  • corresponding author C.P.G. Heinen - Neurochirurgie der Universität Ulm am BKH zu Günzburg
  • T. Kretschmer - Neurochirurgie der Universität Ulm am BKH zu Günzburg
  • W. Börm - Neurochirurgische Klinik der Ev.-Luth. Diakonissenanstalt zu Flensburg
  • H.-P. Richter - Neurochirurgie der Universität Ulm am BKH zu Günzburg
  • R.W. König - Neurochirurgie der Universität Ulm am BKH zu Günzburg

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Japanische Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 57. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e.V. (DGNC), Joint Meeting mit der Japanischen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Essen, 11.-14.05.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. DocP 11.173

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgnc2006/06dgnc390.shtml

Published: May 8, 2006

© 2006 Heinen et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Objective: Balloon kyphoplasty represents a new technique in the treatment of osteoporotic spinal fractures. Being rather expensive aside from medical aspects one has to consider economic deetails when choosing kyphoplasty.

Methods: N=22 patients showing osteoporotic spinal fractures were treated using kyphoplasty in our department. We collected demographic data as well as radiological and neurological findings (degree of fracturation) and reduction of pain. Intra-operative difficulties will be reported, too.

Results: N=13 patients displayed fracture of one vertebra, whereas n=8 of two and n=1 of four. Mostly affected was L1(n=11). In n=12 cases a trauma could be traced in history. After operation mean pain relief added up to 75% with a slight trend towards better outcome for patients being treated within 2-4 weeks after trauma. Only n=1 did not benefit at all. Intra-operative complictions consisted in rupture of the balloon (n=4) and in n=1 case cement entered the paraspinal area without causing any neurological deficits. The follow-up exames did not show any loss of vertebral height.

Conclusions: Despite the rather small group of patients some trends can be deduced: On the one hand one balloon kyphoplasty represents a rather low-risk form of treatment of osteoporotic fractures, on the other hand it certainly is expensive. Therefore, patients should be chosen carefully. Our data suggest that an early operation within 2-4 weeks may have better influence on outcome. MRI might be helpful to distinguish older from newer fractures.