EFFECTS OF VERTEBROPLASTY ON ADJACENT INTERVERTEBRAL DISCDEGENERATION
Abstract
BACKGROUND Bone cement, which we use in vertebroplasty, causes damage to cartilage vertebral endplate and by that diminishes the diffusion of nutrients into adjacent intervertebral disc.The aim of our study was to evaluate if vertebroplasty promotes degeneration of adjacentintervertebral discs. METHODS and We studied 12 vertebroplasty patients (11 women, 1 man) with average age of 71 yearsresults (56–93 years). Levels of intervertebral discs degeneration before and after operation weredefined on basis of MRI and Pearce’s classification of intervertebral disc degeneration.Out of 36 intervertebral discs adjacent to cemented vertebral bodies, 15 of them showed increased degenerative changes after the average time of 19 months, 21 intervertebraldiscs were unchanged. In control group of 66 intervertebral discs which were not in proximityto cemented vertebral bodies, only 12 showed increased degenerative changes, 52intervertebral discs were unchanged and in 2 intervertebral discs, degenerative changeswere diminished. The level of statistical significance between observed and control groupwas 0.007 (independent-samples t-test – 95 % level of confidance).Conclusions RESULTS of our study are showing that vertebroplasty promotes degeneration of adjacentintervertebral discs. On basis of these results we recommend the application of osteoconductivebone cement containing calcium sulfate in younger patientsDownloads
The Author transfers to the Publisher (Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal) all economic copyrights following form Article 22 of the Slovene Copyright and Related Rights Act (ZASP), including the right of reproduction, the right of distribution, the rental right, the right of public performance, the right of public transmission, the right of public communication by means of phonograms and videograms, the right of public presentation, the right of broadcasting, the right of rebroadcasting, the right of secondary broadcasting, the right of communication to the public, the right of transformation, the right of audiovisual adaptation and all other rights of the author according to ZASP.
The aforementioned rights are transferred non-exclusively, for an unlimited number of editions, for the term of the statutory
The Author can make use of his work himself or transfer subjective rights to others only after 3 months from date of first publishing in the journal Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal.
The Publisher (Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal) has the right to transfer the rights, acquired parties without explicit consent of the Author.
The Author consents that the Article be published under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 (attribution-non-commercial) or comparable licence.