[Complications of vertebroplasty].

Percutaneous vertebroplasty was first introduced in 1984 by Galibert et al. for the treatment of hemangiomas in the spine. The current indications for vertebroplasty also include compression fractures due to osteoporosis as well as osteolytic metastases and spinal myeloma lesions. With the numbers of percutaneous vertebroplasty performed by orthopedic and trauma surgeons, neurosurgeons, and radiologists steadily increasing, complications have also risen. Over the last 3 years an increasing number of cases with varying complications, their genesis, and their management have been reported in the literature. Complications include asymptomatic cement leakage, cardiovascular effects, embolism with lethal outcome as well as severe neurological deficits. This article presents a review of the complications reported in the literature, strategies for preventing possible complications as well as current concepts in therapy management. Several of our cases with cement leakages are presented.