Purpose: Long term clinical follow up of vertebral hemangiomas (VH) treated by percutaneous vertebroplasty.
Patients and methods: A retrospective analysis of 19 patients treated fro 21 VH associated with chronic pain in 16 cases, using pecutaneous vertebrosplasty. One patient underwent both vertebroplasty and surgery. Long term follow up (mean 38.6 months; 16-83 months) consisted in the evaluation of residual or secondary pain, its impact on daily activities (using the Oswestry Low Back Pain scale) and the need for pain medication.
Results: Long term follow up found 56.2% of patients to be asymptomatic (9/16) and 31.2% (5/16) with occasional pain without much impact on daily activities and no need for chronic use of pain medication. The treatment was ineffective in 2 cases. Three patients treated for aggressive hemangiomas remained painless. There was no complication due to the treatment. No poor outcome was noted.
Conclusion: Percutaneous vertebroplasty appears to be an effective technique in the treatment of VH with approximately 90% of satisfactory results in the short or long term period.