Excellent outcome of a patient with acute back pain and osteoporotic fracture- A case report

Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the common inflammatory diseases affecting predominantly women. Steroids and anti-inflammatory drugs have been used for decades in managing this condition. Long term steroids have potentially devastating consequences in any multisystem disease and commonly described side effects include Cushing’s syndrome, diabetes and osteoporosis. Fragility fractures are more common in these patients.We report a patient with back pain and osteoporotic vertebral collapse whose neurological weakness was diagnosed and surgical fixation was done to help the patient improve dramatically. Steroids cause an osteoporotic collapse of the vertebra i.e. fragility fracture and appropriate timely intervention would result in an excellent outcome. Collaboration with other specialists greatly helped to get the treatment early even during this covid pandemic.

Clinical and imaging features of surgically treated low lumbar osteoporotic vertebral collapse in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Osteoporosis and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are age-related diseases, and surgery for osteoporotic vertebral collapse (OVC) in PD patients become more common. OVC commonly affects the thoracolumbar spine, but low lumbar OVC is frequent in patients with lower bone mineral density (BMD). The aim of this study was to identify differences in clinical and imaging features of low lumbar OVC with or without PD and to discuss the appropriate treatment. The subjects were 43 patients with low lumbar OVC below L3 who were treated surgically, including 11 patients with PD. The main clinical symptoms were radicular pain in non-PD cases and a cauda equina sign in PD cases. Rapid progression and destructive changes of OVC were seen in patients with PD. The morphological features of OVC were flat-type in non-PD cases with old compression fracture, and destruction-type in PD cases without old compression fracture. Progression of PD was associated with decreased lumbar lordosis, lower lumbar BMD, and severe sarcopenia. High postoperative complication rates were associated with vertebral fragility and longer fusion surgery. Progression of postural instability as a natural course of PD may lead to mechanical stress and instrumentation failure. Invasive long-fusion surgery should be avoided for single low lumbar OVC.

Minimally invasive anteroposterior combined surgery using lateral lumbar interbody fusion without corpectomy for treatment of lumbar spinal canal stenosis associated with osteoporotic vertebral collapse

OBJECTIVE Various reconstructive surgical procedures have been described for lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSCS) with osteoporotic vertebral collapse (OVC); however, the optimal surgery remains controversial. In this study, the authors aimed to report the clinical and radiographic outcomes of their novel, less invasive, short-segment anteroposterior combined surgery (APCS) that utilized oblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF) and posterior fusion without corpectomy to achieve decompression and reconstruction of anterior support in patients with LSCS-OVC. METHODS In this retrospective study, 20 patients with LSCS-OVC (mean age 79.6 years) underwent APCS and received follow-up for a mean of 38.6 months. All patients were unable to walk without support owing to severe low-back and leg pain. Cleft formations in the fractured vertebrae were identified on CT. APCS was performed on the basis of a novel classification of OVC into three types. In type A fractures with a collapsed rostral endplate, combined monosegment OLIF and posterior spinal fusion (PSF) were performed between the collapsed and rostral adjacent vertebrae. In type B fractures with a collapsed caudal endplate, combined monosegment OLIF and PSF were performed between the collapsed and caudal adjacent vertebrae. In type C fractures with severe collapse of both the rostral and caudal endplates, bisegment OLIF and PSF were performed between the rostral and caudal adjacent vertebrae, and pedicle screws were also inserted into the collapsed vertebra. Preoperative and postoperative clinical and radiographical status were reviewed. RESULTS The mean number of fusion segments was 1.6. Walking ability improved in all patients, and the mean Japanese Orthopaedic Association score for recovery rate was 65.7%. At 1 year postoperatively, the mean preoperative Oswestry Disability Index of 65.6% had significantly improved to 21.1%. The mean local lordotic angle, which was −5.9° preoperatively, was corrected to 10.5° with surgery and was maintained at 7.7° at the final follow-up. The mean corrective angle was 16.4°, and the mean correction loss was 2.8°. CONCLUSIONS The authors have proposed using minimally invasive, short-segment APCS with OLIF, tailored to the morphology of the collapsed vertebra, to treat LSCS-OVC. APCS achieves neural decompression, reconstruction of anterior support, and correction of local alignment.

Differences in clinical and imaging features of low lumbar osteoporotic vertebral collapse in patients with or without Parkinson’s disease: Rapid destructive progression and appearance of a cauda equina sign in Parkinson’s disease patients

BackgroundOsteoporosis and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are age-related diseases, and surgery for osteoporotic vertebral collapse (OVC) in PD patients become more common with aging of society. OVC commonly affects the thoracolumbar spine, but low lumbar OVC is frequent in patients with lower bone mineral density (BMD) and a higher mechanical failure rate, compared with those with thoracolumbar junction collapse. The aim of this study was to identify differences in clinical and imaging features, and in outcomes of low lumbar OVC with or without PD and to discuss the appropriate treatment for lower lumbar OVC in patients with PD.MethodsThe subjects were 43 patients with low lumbar OVC below L3 who were treated surgically, including 11 patients with PD. Clinical symptoms, morphological features of affected vertebrae, neurological status, surgical procedures, and complications were compared in patients with and without PD.ResultsThe main clinical symptoms were radicular leg pain in non-PD cases (68.8%) and a cauda equina sign in PD cases (72.7%). Rapid progression and destructive changes of OVC were seen in patients with PD at 24.5 ± 10.5 days after injury. The morphological features of OVC were flat-type in non-PD cases with old compression fracture at the thoracolumbar lesion, and destruction-type in PD cases without old compression fracture. Progression of PD was associated with decreased lumbar lordosis, lower lumbar YAM, and severe sarcopenia, all of which can affect postoperative instrumentation-related complications. High postoperative complication rates may be due to vertebral fragility and longer fusion surgery. ConclusionsRapid progression and destructive changes of low lumbar OVC may occur in PD patients, and significantly more PD cases have a cauda equina sign and require urgent surgery. Progression of postural instability as a natural course of PD may lead to mechanical stress and instrumentation failure, especially at an upper adjacent level. Given the progression of PD after surgery, invasive long-fusion surgery should be avoided for single low lumbar OVC. A surgical strategy considering the severities of PD and osteoporosis, and aggressive control of PD before and after surgery are important to prevent complications.