Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the refracture rate of the cemented vertebral body of percutaneous curved vertebroplasty (PCVP) and bilateral percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCF).
Methods: Ninety-four patients with single segment thoracolumbar OVCF were randomly divided into two groups (47 patients in each) and underwent PCVP or bilateral PKP surgery, respectively. Refracture of cemented vertebral body, bone cement injection volume and cement pattern, cement leakage rate, total surgical time, intraoperative fluoroscopy time, preoperative and postoperative Cobb angles and anterior vertebral height, Oswestry disability index questionnaire (ODI) and visual analog scales (VAS) were recorded.
Results: The PCVP group had significantly lower refracture incidence of the cemented vertebral than the bilateral PKP group (p< 0.05). There was a significant postoperative improvement in the VAS score and ODI in both group (p< 0.01), and no significant difference was found between two groups. The operation time and intraoperative fluoroscopy times were significantly less in the PCVP group than in the bilateral PKP group (p< 0.01). The mean kyphosis angle correction and vertebral height restoration in the PCVP group was significantly less than that in the bilateral PKP group (p< 0.01).
Conclusion: Both PCVP and PKP were safe and effective treatments for OVCF. The PCVP had lower refracture rate of the cemented vertebral than the bilateral PKP group, and PCVP entailed less exposure to fluoroscopy and shorter operation time than bilateral PKP.

Keywords: osteoporosis, osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures, percutaneous curved vertebroplasty, percutaneous kyphoplasty