Retrospective multicenter study of surgical treatments for osteoporotic vertebral fractures.
BACKGROUND
Although many surgical procedures are available for treating osteoporotic vertebral fractures, there have been no comprehensive multicenter surveys in Japan focusing on surgical treatments for these fractures. This study aimed at (1) conducting a retrospective multicenter study to survey surgical treatments performed at referral center hospitals in various regions in Japan and (2) analyzing situations and problems related to the surgical treatments of osteoporotic vertebral fractures in Japanese hospitals.


METHODS
Among 738 patients who were hospitalized in 13 hospitals in various regions in Japan between 2005 and 2006 for osteoporotic vertebral fractures, 84 patients (11.4%) who underwent spinal surgery were enrolled. These patients were retrospectively analyzed regarding cause of injury, preoperative symptoms, preoperative neurological function, surgical procedures, periods of bed rest, length of hospital stay, and ambulatory status at discharge from hospital.


RESULTS
As to the cause of spinal fracture, 38 patients (45% of the surgical patients) could not identify a specific cause of their spinal fracture. Preoperative neurological motor weakness in legs was observed in 41 (49%). With regard to surgical treatment, posterior spinal reconstruction surgery was performed in 50 patients (60%), vertebroplasty in 26 (31%), anterior reconstruction surgery in 6 (7%), anterior and posterior combined reconstruction surgery in 1, and posterior decompression alone in 1 patient. In all, 70 patients (83.3%), whose periods of hospital stay averaged 52.8 days, could walk by themselves at the time of discharge; 14 (16.7%), whose periods of hospital stay averaged 44.7 days, could not walk by themselves at the time of discharge.


CONCLUSIONS
Even after a large variety of surgical procedures were tried to treat osteoporotic vertebral fractures and long hospital stays, about 17% of the patients were unable to walk by themselves at the time of discharge from hospital.
Ito
Manabu
M
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Japan.
Harada
Atsushi
A
Nakano
Tetsuo
T
Kuratsu
Shigeyuki
S
Deguchi
Masao
M
Sueyoshi
Yasunobu
Y
Machida
Masafumi
M
Yonezawa
Yoshiro
Y
Matsuyama
Yukihiro
Y
Wakao
Norimitsu
N
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005593:Fracture Fixation, Internal; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000601:surgery*; D054854:Vertebroplasty / Q000379:methods* / Q000534:rehabilitation