Early vertebroplasty within 3 weeks of fracture for acute painful vertebral osteoporotic fractures: subgroup analysis of the VAPOUR trial and review of the literature.

backgroundVAPOUR found vertebroplasty (V) more effective than placebo (P) in patients with severe pain and fracture duration less than 6 weeks. Exploratory analysis suggested that benefits were concentrated in the subgroup of patients with fractures ≤ 3-week duration. This difference may account for the three negative blinded trials that included few patients within this fracture time frame. PURPOSE: To assess the safety and efficacy of early vertebroplasty for acute painful vertebral osteoporotic fractures within 3 weeks of fracture onset in the VAPOUR study.

methodsSpearman's rank log coefficients were calculated to reassess the relationship of pain reduction from vertebroplasty and fracture duration in the VAPOUR trial. We more fully report baseline and outcome data in patients with fractures ≤ 3-week duration.

resultsThere were 46V and 47P patients with fractures ≤ 3-week duration. Baseline characteristics were similar. In total, 86 patients (41V, 45P) completed the 14-day questionnaire. The proportion of patients with reduction in pain from severe (NRS ≥ 7/10 was an inclusion requirement) to mild (NRS < 4) at 14 days was 21 (51%) V-group and 9 (20%) in the P-group (between-group difference 31 percentage points, 95% CI 12-50; p = 0.002). Early vertebroplasty provided greater reductions in mean NRS pain and Roland-Morris Disability.

conclusionAnalysis of this patient subgroup from the VAPOUR trial, in the context of other randomised trial evidence, suggests clinically significant benefits from early vertebroplasty if performed within 3 weeks of fracture. These slides can be retrieved from Electronic Supplementary Material.