title: Pain reduction following vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the clinical efficacy, especially the pain reduction, of vertebroplasty and balloon kyphoplasty in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs).
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-six patients with OVCFs were treated with vertebroplasty or balloon kyphoplasty. All patients were followed up for seven-36 months. Visual analog scale (VAS), vertebral height, and local kyphotic angle were evaluated at pre-operation, postoperation, and final follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The VAS pain score decreased significantly after surgery in both kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty groups (p < 0.001), and the improvement of VAS score had no significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.826). There was a significant difference in the improvement of vertebral height (p < 0.001) and local kyphotic angle (p < 0.001) between the two groups. Improvement of VAS score had no correlation with improvement of vertebral height (vertebroplasty: r = -0.029, p = 0.869; kyphoplasty: r = 0.175, p = 0.219) or local kyphotic angle (vertebroplasty: r = 0.159, p = 0.361; kyphoplasty: r = 0.144, p = 0.312) in either group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty are effective procedures for the reduction of pain in OVCFs, and they have the same efficient effect on pain reduction. Correction of vertebral height and local kyphosis may have minimal effect on pain reduction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Renbin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Tiansi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Zongping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Xuefeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Qingsheng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Huilin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D050815:Fractures, Compression / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D058498:Kyphoplasty; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011859:Radiography; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D054854:Vertebroplasty