Effectiveness and Safety of Percutaneous Kyphoplasty Combined with Zoledronic Acid in Treatment of Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fractures: a Meta-analysis

Introduction: To investigate the clinical effectiveness of combination treatment of percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) and zoledronic acid (ZOL) in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF).

Materials And Methods: We searched studies investigating the PKP combined with ZOL in the treatment of OVCF. We used a fixed-effects or random-effects model to analyze the bone mineral density (BMD), visual analogue scale (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI), bone markers (N-MID, β-CTX, and P1NP) and adverse events, expressed as weight mean difference (WMD) and risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI).

Results: We identified 5 cohort studies with a total of 440 patients. Compared with PKP alone, the combination treatment of PKP and ZOL significantly reduced the VAS score at 6 months (WMD = - 0.78, 95% CI - 1.42, - 0.14; P = 0.018), and 12 months (WMD = - 0.98, 95% CI - 1.46, - 0.51; P < 0.001). Moreover, the combination treatment also improved the BMD at 6 (WMD = 0.06, 95% CI 0.01, 0.11, P = 0.016) and 12 months (WMD = 0.20, 95% CI 0.03, 0.36, P = 0.018) after treatment. The ODI score in the combination group was significantly lower than in PKP group at 6, 12 and 24 months after treatment (at 6 months: WMD = - 9.25, 95% CI - 13.62, - 4.87 P < 0.001; at 12 months: WMD = - 9.21, 95% CI - 11.91, - 6.50, P < 0.001; at 24 months: WMD = - 7.26, 95% CI - 11.39, - 3.14, P = 0.001). The N-MID and P1NP values were found to be significantly lower in the combination group than the PKP group, but the β-CTX value was similar between the two groups. There was no significant difference in incidence of adverse events between the two groups, but more adjacent vertebral fractures and bone cement leakage occurred in PKP alone group.

Conclusion: In patients with OVCF, combination treatment of PKP and ZOL showed more effective than PKP alone in improving BMD and bone marker levels, relieving pain, as well as reducing the risk of new fractures. More large-scale RCTs are needed to verify our findings.