Vertebral Body Height Changes in Acute Symptomatic Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fractures Treated with Vertebral Cement Augmentation-Which Factors Affect Vertebral Body Height during Follow-up? A Multiple Linear Regression Study

Changes in vertebral body height depend on various factors which were analyzed in isolation and not as a whole. The aim of this study is to analyze what factors might influence the restoration of the vertebral body height after vertebral augmentation. We analyzed 48 patients (108 vertebrae) with osteoporotic vertebral fractures who underwent vertebral augmentation when a conservative treatment proved to be unsatisfactory. The analyses were carried out at the time of the fracture, during surgery (pre-cementation and post-cementation), at the first medical check-up (6 weeks post-surgery) and at the last medical check-up. The average vertebral height was measured, and the differences from the preoperative values were calculated at each timepoint. A Pearson correlation coefficient and a linear multivariable regression were carried out at different timepoints. The time since the vertebral fracture was 60.4 +/- 41.7 days. The patients' average age was 73.8 +/- 7 years. The total follow-up period was 1.43 +/- 1 year. After vertebral cementation, there was an increase in the vertebral body height of +0.3 cm (13.6%). During the post-operative follow-up, there was a progressive collapse of the vertebral body, and the pre-surgical height was reached. The factors that most influenced the vertebral height restoration were: a grade III collapse, an intervertebral-vacuum-cleft (IVVC) and the use of a flexible trocar before cement augmentation. The factor that negatively influenced the vertebral body height restoration was the location of the thoracolumbar spine.