The optimal timing of percutaneous vertebroplasty as treatment for painful osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) is still unclear. With the position of vertebroplasty having been challenged by recent placebo-controlled studies, appropriate timing gains importance.
We investigated the relationship between the onset of symptoms
– the time from fracture – and the efficacy of vertebroplasty in
115 patients with 216 painful subacute or chronic OVCFs (mean time
from fracture 6.0 months (
It was found that there was an immediate and sustainable improvement in the level of back pain and HRQoL after vertebroplasty, which was independent of the time from fracture. Greater time from fracture was associated with neither worse pre-operative conditions nor increased vertebral deformity, nor with the presence of an intravertebral cleft.
We conclude that vertebroplasty can be safely undertaken at an appropriate moment between two and 12 months following the onset of symptoms of an OVCF.