An Extended Follow-up of Spinal Instrumentation Rescue with Cement Augmentation

Standing lateral radiograph (A) of a 76-year-old patient with T10–L2 posterior fixation and decompression for treatment of a burst vertebral body fracture of T12 with posterior wall retropulsion and central canal stenosis. Sagittal thick-layer MPR reconstruction from a CT scan (B) shows a new fracture of T10 with initial “pullout” of the screws 1 month after surgery. The patient was treated with rescue cement augmentation on the fractured vertebral body and prophylactic augmentation at the level above. Standing lateral radiograph (C) performed 3 months after the rescue augmentation shows stability of the treatment. The patient was followed up to 85 months after surgery, and no further invasive procedure was needed.