Fragility Vertebral Compression Fractures in Postmenopausal Women: The Role of a Fracture Liaison Service Program

Radiomics Based on Multimodal magnetic resonance imaging for the Differential Diagnosis of Benign and Malignant Vertebral Compression Fractures

OBJECTIVES

Recent studies have indicated that radiomics may have excellent performance and clinical application prospects in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant vertebral compression fractures (VCFs). However, multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based radiomics model is rarely used in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant VCFs, and is limited to lumbar. Herein, this study intends to develop and validate MRI radiomics models for differential diagnoses of benign and malignant VCFs in patients.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study involved 151 adult patients diagnosed with VCF in The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University in 2016-2021. The study was conducted in three steps: (i) the original MRI images were segmented, and the region of interest (ROI) was marked out; (ii) among the extracted features, those features with Pearson's correlation coefficient lower than 0.9 and the top 15 with the highest variance and Lasso regression coefficient less than and more than 0 were selected; (iii) MRI images and combined data were studied by logistic regression, decision tree, random forest and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) models in training set and the test set (ratio of 8:2), respectively; and the models were further verified and evaluated for the differential diagnosis performance. The evaluated indexes included area under receiver (AUC) of operating characteristic curve, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value (NPV), positive predictive value (PPV), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The AUCs were used to assess the predictive performance of different machine learning modes for benign and malignant VCFs.

RESULTS

A total of 1144 radiomics features, and 14 clinical features were extracted. Finally, 12 radiomics features were included in the radiomics model, and 12 radiomics features with 14 clinical features were included in the combined model. In the radiomics model, the differential diagnosis performance in the logistic regression model with the AUC of 0.905 ± 0.026, accuracy of 0.817 ± 0.057, sensitivity of 0.831 ± 0.065, and negative predictive value of 0.813 ± 0.042, was superior to the other three. In the combined model, XGBoost model had the superior differential diagnosis performance with specificity (0.979 ± 0.026) and positive predictive value (0.971 ± 0.035).

CONCLUSION

The multimodal MRI-based radiomics model performed well in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant VCFs, which may provide a tool for clinicians to differentially diagnose VCFs.

Effects of the obstruction of erector spinae plane in affected people undergoing percutaneous vertebroplasty

BACKGROUND

We aimed to compare the difference between the therapeutic effects of percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) as well as PVP combined with erector spinae plane blocked (ESPB) in osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) therapy.

METHODS

After the reception, 100 affected people to OVCFs were randomly divided into the PVP group as a control as well as the PVP + ESPB group as the observation, which included fifty affected people per group. The visual analog scale (VAS) for pain as well as the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) per group was assessed before the operation, two hours after the operation, and when patients were discharged from the hospital. Operating time was also evaluated on the charged bulk of bone cement during the surgery, blood loss during the surgery, as well as operating costs for each group. Additionally, to assess differences, comparisons have been done among available groups in terms of ambulation as well as defecation or stool after the operation at the earlier time.

RESULTS

The PVP + ESPB category acquired lower VAS and ODI scores when assessments were processed 2 h after the operation and when they were discharged from a hospital. They also had earlier postoperative ambulation and defecation time than the category of PVP (p < 0.05). Regarding the other indicators, there did not show significant differences. Besides, no complications occurred within both group, either after the operation or when they discharge from the hospital.

CONCLUSION

PVP + ESPB for OVCF is related to less VAS, further effective alleviation of pain, and fewer ODI values in affected people after the operation than only PVP. Besides, affected people can involve in ambulation more swiftly. The PVP + ESPB therapy improves the quicker recuperation of intestinal function as well as helps to improve the overall life quality of patients.

Effect of different bone cement distributions in percutaneous kyphoplasty on clinical outcomes for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures: A retrospective study

Osteoporotic fractures and their complications are becoming increasingly harmful to the elderly. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical results of connected or unconnected bilateral cement after bilateral percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) in patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCF). The clinical data of 217 patients with single-segment OVCF were retrospectively collected. Patients were allocated into 2 groups according to the bilateral bone cement in the vertebrae was connected or unconnected after surgery. The surgery-related indexes of the 2 groups were compared, including operation time; bone cement injection volume; contact situation between bone cement and the upper and lower endplates of the vertebral body; visual analogue scale (VAS) scores before surgery, 1 week and 1 year after surgery; Oswestry disability index (ODI) before surgery, 1 week and 1 year after surgery; local kyphosis angle (LKA) before surgery, 1 week and 1 year after surgery; postoperative vertebral body height at 1 week and 1 year after surgery; vertebral body height restoration rate (HRR) at 1 week and 1 year after surgery. The follow-up results of all patients were recorded. The postoperative VAS, ODI, vertebral body height, LKA and other indexes of the 2 groups were significantly improved compared with those before the operation (P < .05), and there was no significant difference between the 2 groups (P > .05). At the same time, there were no significant difference in vertebral body HRR and bone cement leakage rate between the 2 groups (P > .05). X-ray examination showed that 21 of 217 patients (21/217, 9.8%) had a refracture of the injured vertebral body, including 16 cases (16/121, 13.2%) in the unconnected group and 5 cases (5/96, 5.2%) in the connected group (P < .05). Adjacent vertebrae fractures occurred in 25 cases (25/217, 11.5%), while 19 cases (19/121, 15.7%) were in the unconnected group and 6 cases (6/96, 6.3%) were in the connected group (P < .05). PKP has a good therapeutic effect on OVCF no matter whether the bilateral bone cement is connected or not. However, if the bilateral cement inside the vertebra was connected, the risk of recollapse of the injured vertebrae and the new fracture of adjacent vertebrae could be reduced.

Patients undergoing surgical treatment for low-energy distal radius fractures are more likely to receive a referral and participate in a fracture liaison service program

INTRODUCTION

Patients often do not receive osteoporosis screening after a low-energy distal radius fracture (DRF). The effect of osteoporosis on the healing of DRFs remains a debate, and it is unclear if surgical treatment of this injury affects the referral and participation rates in a fracture liaison service (FLS) program. The purpose of this study is to report on a large cohort of low-energy DRFs and identify demographic, clinical, and treatment factors that affect referral and participation rates in an FLS program.

METHODS

A retrospective review identified patients over 50 years old who sustained a low-energy DRF between 2013 and 2018. Patients with high-energy or unknown injury mechanisms were excluded. The primary outcome was the effect of DRF surgical treatment on referral and participation rates in an FLS program. Secondary outcomes included patient demographic and clinical characteristic effects on referral and participation rates in an FLS program.

RESULTS

In total, 950 patients met inclusion criteria. Two hundred thirty patients (24.2%) were referred and 149 (15.7%) participated in the FLS program. Patients who underwent surgery were more likely to be referred to the FLS (OR 1.893, CI 1.403-2.555, p < 0.001) and participate in the FLS program (OR 2.47, CI 1.723-3.542, p < 0.001) compared to patients who received non-operative treatment of their DRF.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients who undergo surgical treatment of a low-energy DRF are more likely to be referred and participate in a FLS program. Further study is needed to identify why surgical treatment may affect referral and participation rates.

Role of Fracture Liaison Service Program in Reducing Refracture Rate in the Elderly Osteoporotic Trauma Patients Presenting With Vertebral Compression Fracture: A Six-Year Study

INTRODUCTION

As the elderly population of the United States and the world increases, so does the incidence of osteoporotic fragility fractures from a fall or minor injury. This results in a large cost to the health care system. This cost is further increased as more than 50% of individuals will have refractures within the first year. In order to reduce the refracture rate in such patients, we enrolled our elderly trauma patients with vertebral compression fractures and vertebral augmentation in a Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) clinic for two years and reevaluated their refracture rate.

METHOD

This is a retrospective analysis of 720 patients. 142 patients (Group A) were seen between 2012 and 2014 before establishing the FLS program and 578 patients (Group B) were seen between 2015 and 2020 after implementation of the FLS program. The patients enrolled in the FLS program were followed for two years after sustaining a vertebral compression fracture. The data collected included age, sex, serum calcium and vitamin D levels, dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan, 10-year fracture risk (FRAX) score, pressure measurements in PSI taken during vertebral augmentation, as well as the refracture rate. The data collected were analyzed and compared between the two groups using the Student's t-test and chi-square test.

RESULTS

There was significant reduction in the refracture rate of pre-FLS vs post-FLS vertebral, as well as other fractures in the FLS group (pre-FLS: 48.9% vs post-FLS: 37.0%; P = .01). There was no significant difference between groups A and B in regard to the mean serum level of calcium (9.44 mg/dL vs 9.53 mg/dL), vitamin D level (35.04 ng/mL vs 41.39 ng/mL), DXA scan for spine (-.52 vs -.76) and for femur (-1.77 vs -1.52), and 10-year refracture risk for osteoporotic major fracture (FRAX score-mean: 22.6% vs 19.2%) and for hip fracture (9.18% vs 7.53%). There was a significant difference in the mean age between the groups (79.5 vs 73.5 years; P = .01). Of those who underwent vertebral augmentation, 235 had Pressure Scale Index (PSI) measurements taken. There was a trend in increasing refracture rate when PSI ≤199 compared with those who had PSI ≥200, although statistical significance was not met (33.9% vs 27.0%, P = .21).

CONCLUSION

A Fracture Liaison Service program will improve the bone health of geriatric osteoporotic patients presenting to the trauma service with vertebral compression fractures and thus reduces the subsequent refracture rate. Further study is needed to evaluate the best PSI used to impact reduction in refracture rate.

Rates of Osteoporosis Management and Secondary Preventative Treatment After Primary Fragility Fractures

Fragility fractures are often sentinel events in documenting new cases of osteoporosis. Numerous analyses have demonstrated low rates of adequate osteoporosis evaluation and treatment following primary fragility fractures. The purpose of this study was to quantify the incidence of primary fragility fractures in America and the rates of osteoporosis screening and management before and after fracture.