Adjacent Fracture Rates Following Balloon Kyphoplasty in Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fractures: A Case Series

Background Osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCF) represent a substantial concern, as they are associated with significant increases in morbidity and mortality. One option for the management of these patients is balloon kyphoplasty, in which a balloon is inflated within the collapsed vertebral body. Following this, the cavity is filled with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) cement to restore height and strength. Although this procedure has been shown to have great effectiveness, one complication that has been documented is an adjacent level refracture. This is thought to be due to the increased relative strength of the repaired vertebral body. Our study aims to quantify the rates of adjacent level refracture following balloon kyphoplasty as well as identify factors that may be associated with this event. Methods  We reviewed the electronic medical records (EMR) of patients that underwent balloon kyphoplasty between January 1, 2017 and August 1, 2020. A single surgeon performed all procedures. Only adult patients who received a diagnosis of osteoporosis based on a history of fragility fracture or bone mineral density measurement were included. Patients with additional or confounding bone conditions, such as malignancy or other lytic lesions, were excluded. Data were analyzed in SPSS (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, United States). Results We included 89 patients in our study. We observed an adjacent level refracture prevalence of 13.5% (n=12). We observed a significant increase in refracture rates among patients with unsatisfactory resolution of symptoms following initial balloon kyphoplasty, from 8.2% for satisfactory resolution of symptoms to 43.8% for those with unsatisfactory resolution. (p-value 0.011). Additionally, all 12 patients with adjacent level refractures occurred among patients with complex, multiple-level initial fracture patterns. Conclusions The treatment of OVCF with balloon kyphoplasty is a well-documented and effective method. The prevalence of adjacent-level refracture may be linked to several variables such as the initial fracture pattern. More research is needed to better predict refracture and improve patient outcomes.