title: Adjacent disc height reduction and clinical outcome after intradiscal cement leakage.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of intradiscal cement leakage on the height of adjacent cement-containing discs and the resulting clinical efficacy after kyphoplasty.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 124 patients were included and classified into two groups: group A included 20 patients with intradiscal leakage, and group B contained 104 patients without intradiscal leakage. The mean follow-up time was 20.56±3.51 months. The height of the corresponding discs in both groups was measured using Farfan's method. Clinical efficacy was assessed using the Visual Analog Scale and Oswestry Disability Index scores at each follow-up time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The anterior disc height, posterior disc height and Farfan Index significantly decreased in both groups at last follow-up. The disc height reduction was 9.19±2.89% in group A and 3.88±2.70% in group B, which was significantly different between the groups (P<0.01). The disc height reduction rate was 29.39±7.90% in group A and 12.75±8.18% in group B, which was also a statistically significant difference (P<0.01). The VAS and ODI scores improved significantly after surgery and maintained at last follow-up, and there was no statistically significant difference between Groups A and B.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intradiscal cement leakage was associated with the degeneration of cement-containing disc but did not reduce the clinical efficacy at early stages.
authors.affiliation: First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Minjie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Junjie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Haifei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Minfeng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.affiliation: First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Huilin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
keywords: clinical efficacy; disc height reduction; intradiscal cement leakage; percutaneous balloon kyphoplasty