Abstract

An elderly female underwent three level vertebroplasty for painful compression fractures of the thoracolumbar junction. During injection of the third level, she developed severe pain resulting from an acute adjacent level fracture secondary to substantial cement leakage into the disc space. This was recognized and treated immediately with vertebroplasty resulting in complete pain relief. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of intraprocedural compression fracture secondary to cement leakage into the disc space.

Keywords: Vertebroplasty, cement leakage, subsequent compression fractures, methylmethacrylate