The safety and efficacy of vertebroplasty using Cortoss cement in a newly established vertebroplasty service.

Vertebroplasty provides an effective means of treating painful vertebral lesions although the majority of the literature relates to vertebroplasty using PMMA cement. The purpose of this study is to assess the safety and efficacy of vertebroplasty using Cortoss, a recently developed bis-GMA resin. Our newly established vertebroplasty service exclusively uses Cortoss cement and has a patient database which is updated on a regular basis using the medical records. To date, there are 34 patients on this database, mean age 66, in whom a vertebroplasty has been performed on 42 vertebral lesions with a mean of 2.2 ml of Cortoss injected into each lesion. The mean duration of follow up was 9.5 months. Eighty-two per cent of patients reported an improvement in their symptoms, while 79% required less analgesia post vertebroplasty. A total of 88.2% experienced no significant complications. In 38% there was an asymptomatic leakage of Cortoss. Four patients (11.8%) experienced significant complications: one asymptomatic PE, one episode of transient radicular leg pain, one generalized rash and one patient suffered retropulsion of the Cortoss due to further vertebral malignancy. Cortoss vertebroplasty provides comparable efficacy and safety to the published literature for PMMA.