Risk of post-vertebroplasty fracture in adjacent vertebral bodies appears correlated with the morphologic extent of bone cement.

Background: New fractures in adjacent vertebral bodies were found after percutaneous vertebroplasty. We evaluated the correlation between extent of polymethylmethacrylate cement and occurrence of post-vertebroplasty fractures in patients with osteoporosis.

Methods: Totally 162 adjacent vertebral bodies with no fracture at the time of vertebroplasty and the distribution of cement in corresponding treated vertebral bodies of 98 patients were included for the evaluation.