Heat generation and heat protection in methylmethacrylate cementation of vertebral bodies. A cadaver study evaluating different clinical possibilities of dural protection from heat during cement curing.

For metastatic disease of the spine, anterior operations on the vertebral bodies often include methylmethacrylate cementation. The cement curing process may produce high temperatures in the surroundings, as demonstrated in joint replacement surgery, and there is a risk of thermal injury to the spinal nerves. In cadavers, we studied the heat arising during curing of cement on the dural sac, and the temperature of the cement surface was measured when the vertebral body was reconstructed using acrylic cement in the same way as in tumor surgery. The temperature increase on the surface of the dural sac during polymerization was between 4 degrees and 12 degrees C, depending on the amount of protection. Only a moderate temperature elevation was measured on the surface of the dural sac, provided that the posterior cortex of the vertebra was retained together with 0.5 cm of the spongious bone or a silicone membrane.