title: Segmental artery injury following percutaneous vertebroplasty using extrapedicular approach.
abstract: We performed a percutaneous vertebroplasty at the compressed L2 vertebral body of a 73-year-old female using a left-sided unilateral extrapedicular approach. She complained severe radiating pain and a tingling sensation in her left leg two hours after the vertebroplasty. Spinal computed tomographic scan showed a large retroperitoneal hematoma, and a subsequent spinal angiography revealed a left L2 segmental artery injury. Bleeding was successfully controlled by endovascular embolization. Recently, extrapedicular approaches have been attempted, allowing for the avoidance of facet and pedicle injury with only a unilateral approach. With this approach, however, the needle punctures the vertebral body directly. Therefore, this procedure carries the potential risk of a spinal segmental artery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Hwa
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.forename: Yong Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Cho