A recent study issued in the Asian Spine Journal revealed that cement leakage into the disc increases the risk of early adjacent vertebral fractures following balloon kyphoplasty (KP).

Bong-Seong Ko et al. assessed the incidence and risk factors for early adjacent vertebral fractures following balloon KP. In patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCF), KP alleviates pain safely and effectively. But, some studies have described that the risk of newly developed fractures increases at the adjacent vertebra after KP.

A total of 123 patients with painful OVCF who underwent KP were included from January 2009 to June 2016. The risk of early adjacent fracture was determined. New fractures that arise within 3 months after the surgery were defined as early adjacent vertebral fractures. Age, sex, body mass index (BMI), bone mineral density (BMD), vertebral height, kyphotic angle, Visual Analog Scale score, cement amount, and leakage were investigated as risk factors for the adjacent vertebral fractures. Only the cement leakage into the disc space was considered for this study.

Results depicted that the early adjacent vertebral fractures were recognised in 20 (16.2%) of the 123 patients along with mean time to diagnosis of fractures was 1.7±0.7 months following KP. The average patient age was 78.0±0.7 years, BMI was 23.06±3.83 kg/m², and mean BMD was −3.61±1.22 g/m². The cement leakage occurred in 16 patients, and fractures arose in 11 (68.7%) patients. In contrast, fractures occurred in 9 patients (8.2%) without cement leakage.

According to the researchers of this study, "There were no significant differences concerning age, kyphotic angle, BMI, BMD or vertebral body height ratio between the fracture and the control groups."