Large Pulmonary Embolus after Percutaneous Vertebroplasty - A Case Report -

Sang Ho Moon; Soo Won Lee; Byoung Ho Suh; Sung Hwan Kim

doi:10.7469/JKSS.2009.16.1.46

Journal List > J Korean Soc Spine Surg > v.16(1) > 1035874

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Moon, Lee, Suh, and Kim: Large Pulmonary Embolus after Percutaneous Vertebroplasty - A Case Report -

Case Report

Journal of Korean Spine Surg 2009;16(1):46-49.

Published online: 18 January 2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7469/JKSS.2009.16.1.46

Large Pulmonary Embolus after Percutaneous Vertebroplasty - A Case Report -

Sang Ho Moon, M.D.^#,, Soo Won Lee, M.D., Byoung Ho Suh, M.D., Sung Hwan Kim, M.D.

Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Handong University Sunlin Hospital, Pohang, Korea

^{^#}Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Wallace Memorial Baptist Hospital, Busan, Korea

Address reprint requests to Sang Ho Moon, M.D. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Wallace Memorial Baptist Hospital 374-75 Namsan-dong, Geumjung-gu, Busan, 609-728, Korea Tel: 82-51-580-1273, Fax: 82-51-583-2568, E-mail: msh124@paran.com

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Percutaneous vertebroplasty for osteoporotic compression fractures or malignant osteolytic spinal tumors provides pain relief. A pulmonary embolism caused by polymethylmethacrylate migration after this procedure is rare and its major complication, pulmonary infarction, involves necrosis of the lung parenchyme, resulting from interference with the blood supply. We report a case of a large pulmonary embolus (diameter 2 cm) after cement vertebroplasty for an osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture and successful management with anticoagulation only.

Keywords: Spine, Compression fracture, Large pulmonary embolus, Vertebroplasty

REFERENCES

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Fig. 1.

A preoperative radiograph shows compression fractures at T10 and T11 (arrows).

Fig. 2.

Sagittal images of thoracolumbar spine MR show signal change in T10 and T11 vertebral bodies (arrows).

Fig. 3.

In postoperative radiographs of T10 and T11 vertebroplasty, there were no evidence of cement leakage out of vertebral bodies.

Fig. 4.

An immediate postoperative chest radiograph shows high density cement embolus in right lung hilar area (arrow).

Fig. 5.

In computed tomography, about 2 cm length linear high density cement material is seen within the right inferior main pulmonary artery (arrow). There is also peripheral pulmonary infarction in this study.

Fig. 6.

A postoperative 1 year radiograph shows no interval change with an immediate postoperative chest radiograph.

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