• Tetsuya Suzuki, Eiji Abe, Naohisa Miyakoshi, Hajime Murai, Takashi Kobayashi, Toshiki Abe, Kazuma Kikuchi, and Yoichi Shimada.
• Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Akita Kumiai General Hospital, Akita, Japan. suzuki-te@archosp-1998.com
• J Spinal Disord Tech. 2013 Jul 1; 26 (5): E170-6.

Study DesignA retrospective clinical study.ObjectiveTo assess the efficacy of a new spinal reconstruction technique (posterior-approach vertebral replacement with rectangular parallelepiped cages: PAVREC) for the treatment of osteoporotic late vertebral collapse with neurological deficits.Summary Of Background DataPoor bone quality and medically complicated situations obfuscate precise treatment for paraplegia caused by osteoporotic vertebral collapse. Recently, posterior-approach corpectomy and replacement with a cylindrical cage have been proposed. However, postoperative cage subsidence and kyphosis progression frequently occurs.MethodsSurgical invasiveness, perioperative complications, and clinical and radiographic outcomes in a total of 19 consecutive patients with osteoporosis (7 men and 12 women; mean age, 75 y) who underwent PAVREC with a mean follow-up period of 45.6 months (range, 16-79 mo) were reviewed. The affected vertebral levels ranged from T12-L4. The mean bone mineral density of the femoral neck was 0.611±0.077 g/cm(2) (mean±SD).ResultsMean operative time was 261 minutes (range, 155-326 min). Mean blood loss was 664 mL (range, 197-1595 mL). There were no reported surgical complications. Neurological deficits evaluated with the Frankel grading score improved >1 grade after surgery in all patients. Mean preoperative visual analog scale scores for back or leg pain (7.2; range, 6-9) significantly improved after surgery (1.4; range, 0-2) (P<0.05). Local kyphosis improved from a mean of 24.6 degrees before surgery to a mean of 1.5 degrees after surgery (P< 0.05), and it was maintained at a mean of 2.5 degrees at the final follow-up. Although screw loosening, cage subsidence, and subsequent vertebral fracture were seen in several cases, no additional surgeries were needed. Solid bony fusion was confirmed in all cases.ConclusionsPAVREC provided a satisfactory clinical and radiologic outcome without severe complications. This procedure can be a treatment option for osteoporotic vertebral collapse and an alternative to an anterior-approach or single posterior-approach reconstruction with a cylindrical cage.

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