Objective To compare the clinical outcomes of PVP versus PKP for treatment of nonunion of thoracolumbar vertebral fractures in the elderly without nerve injury. Methods From January 2013 to January 2019, 38 patients with single nonunion of vertebral fracture without nerve deficit treated at the Affiliated Huai'an No.1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University were divided into PVP group (n=21) and PKP group (n=17), which consisted of 16 males and 22 females, with age ranging from 68 to 92 years. The operative time, cost of hospitalization, visual analogue scale (VAS) for back pain, Oswestry disability index (ODI) scores, height of diseased vertebrae and segmental Cobb' s angle were applied for evaluation of the consequences.The usage of bone cement and the leakage rate of bone cement were also compared between the two groups. Results There were significant differences between the two groups in operative time [(36.09±7.43) min versus (43.29±5.97) min] and cost of hospitalization [(20 427.57±1 724.31) yuan versus (28 798.53±1 983.94) yuan](P<0.05). All 38 patients were followed up for 12 to 18 months.There were significant differences in preoperative and postoperative VAS score, ODI score, anterior height of vertebral body, midline height of vertebral body and kyphosis angle of affected vertebral body within the groups (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in the amount of bone cement injected between the two groups (P>0.05), and there was no significant difference in the leakage rate of bone cement between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion PVP and PKP had similar and satisfactory clinical outcomes in treatment of non-union of thoracolumbar fractures in the elderly without nerve injury, but the operative time and cost of hospitalization of the former were shorter and lower than the latter. |