• Besharat Rahimi, Behdad Boroofeh, Roshan Dinparastisaleh, and Hale Nazifi.
• Pulmonology Department, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
• Respir Med Case Rep. 2018 Jan 1; 25: 78-85.

BackgroundVertebroplasty is a procedure most commonly used for vertebral compression fractures. Although it is a relatively safe procedure, complications have been reported. Cement embolism is seen in 2.1%-26% of patients after percutaneous vertebroplasty.Case Presentationa 38-year-old male who was diagnosed with cushing's syndrome, underwent percutaneous vertebroplasty for his thoracic osteoporotic compression fractures. 24-hours following vertebroplasty, he presented to emergency department with acute-onset dyspnea and chest pain. Chest radiography showed an opaque linear lesion in left pulmonary artery which was suggestive of cement embolism. Pulmonary spiral CT-scan further confirmed the diagnosis. The patient's symptoms improved over time, and warfarin was started with close cardiopulmonary assessments for indicators of cement embolus removal.Conclusionin patients with pulmonary cement embolism, conservative treatment may be recommended rather than a surgical removal except when the obstruction is extensive enough to cause hemodynamic changes. Given that all the related studies have suggested that pulmonary thromboembolism can occur as a complication due to bone cement leakage, discovering new cement alternatives and/or injection devices, seems beneficial.

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