Treatment of MM-associated spinal fracture with percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) and chemotherapy

Purpose To investigate the effect of treatment of multiple myeloma (MM)-associated spinal fracture with percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) and chemotherapy. Methods Patients with MM-associated spinal fracture were randomly divided into combined (PVP and chemotherapy) treatment group ( n = 38) and single chemotherapy group ( n = 38). For the combined treatment group, bone cement was injected into vertebral body via DSA guided-percutaneous puncture. M2 scheme was used for both groups. And a 5-year follow-up was conducted for the study. Results At the 1-year follow-up visits, PVP combined with chemotherapy achieved complete remission (CR) in six patients (15.8%); near complete remission (nCR) in ten patients (26.30%); partial remission (PR) in nine patients (23.7%); minimal response (MR) in three patients (7.9%); no change (NC) in four patients (10.5%), and disease progression (DP) in five patients (13.2%). Only chemotherapy alone resulted in 3 CR (7.9%); 8 nCR (26.30%); 19 PR (77.5%); 4 MR (17.5%); 4 NC (17.5%), and 2 DP (5.0%). While the overall response rate (ORR) in the combined treatment group (65.8%) and the single chemotherapy group (50.0%) were significantly different, their visual analog pain scales (3.01 ± 0.62 and 5.97 ± 0.40, respectively) and Karnofsky performance scores (89.4 ± 6.3 and 80.3 ± 7.2, respectively) were significantly improved after treatment ( P = 0.032 and P = 0.002, respectively). And the ORR between the two groups were significantly different ( P = 0.001). Conclusion Percutaneous vertebroplasty is a minimally invasive surgery for MM-associated pathologic fracture. PVP had the characteristics of minimal trauma, easy operation and less complication. PVP can achieve long-term analgesic effect, and enhance the spinal stability.