S C O L I O S I S R E S E A R C H S O C I E T Y

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM ABSTRACTS

ALL OF THE NON-UNION CASES FOLLOWING OSTEOPOROTIC VERTEBRAL FRACTURE INDUCE

THE INTRACTABLE BACK PAIN?

Hiroaki Nakamura, MD, Masatoshi Hoshino, MD, H Terai, MD, Tadao Tsujio, MD, K Takaoka, MD,
Osaka, Japan

Introduction. Osteoporotic vertebral fracture has become a major problem because the percentage of elderly people is
increasing.

Usually bone union has occurred in due course and intractable pain subsides with progression of bone union.

However, we sometimes observe the pseudoarthrosis following the fracture. The purpose of this study was to evaluate
the percentage of this delayed union and the effect on prolonged severe pain following osteoporotic vertebral fracture.

Materials and Methods. Two hundred forty six consecutive patients with osteoporotic vertebral fracture whose age
was older than 65 years were enrolled in the study as a prospective cohort study. There were 45 men and 201 women.

The age at the time of the entry ranged from 65 years to 100 years with a mean of 76.2 years. Among these entry
cases, 69 cases has finished six months prospective follow-up following the fracture. We evaluated these cases on
flexion and extension lateral plain-X-ray and Magnetic Resonance Images.

Pseudoarthrosis was defined as the cases having vertebral cleft or intravertebral instability on these images. The pain of
those patients was evaluated by the Visual Analogue Scale.

Results. Among 69 cases, 10 cases showed the findings of pseudoarthrosis (non-union group) and 59 cases showed
bone union (bone-union group). Therefore, the percentage of pseudoarthrosis following osteoporotic vertebral
fracture was 14.5%. Visual Analogue Scale changed from 82.8 mm to 31.4 mm in the bone-union group and 81.9 to
41.1 in the non-union group.

At the time of six months follow-up, non-union group showed more pain, but this difference was not significant.

Discussion. The percentage of pseudoarthrosis following osteoporotic vertebral fracture has not been reported. From
the present study, that percentage was 14.5%. Pseudoarthrosis cases showed more pain at the time of follow-up, but
not significant. Therefore, in the prolonged severe pain after the osteoporotic vertebral fracture, other factors than
pseudoarthrosis might also contribute.

SRS 39TH ANNUAL MEETING BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA 834