Effects of radiofrequency ablation combined with percutaneous vertebroplasty on spinal metastases

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of radiofrequency ablation combined with percutaneous vertebroplasty on spinal metastases and to investigate its application value. Methods Seventy patients with spinal metastases who were hospitalized in the First People’s Hospital of Pingdingshan from May 2015 to May 2016 were selected as research objects and were randomly divided into control group and observation group, with 35 cases in each group. Patients in control group were treated by simple percutaneous vertebroplasty. Patients in observation group were treated by radiofrequency ablation combined with percutaneous vertebroplasty. The pain visual analogue scale (VAS) score, leakage rate of bone cement and tumor recurrence rate before and after treatment were compared between the two groups. Results The VAS scores of the two groups after treatment were significantly lower than those before treatment (all P 0.05); leakage rate of bone cement and tumor recurrence rate of observation group were significantly lower than those of control group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusions In the clinical treatment of spinal metastases, radiofrequency ablation combined with percutaneous vertebroplasty and only use percutaneous vertebroplasty both can effectively alleviate the patient’s pain, but the former has lower bone cement extravasation rate and lower tumor recurrence rate, by which patients are benefited more. Key words: Spinal metastases; Radiofrequency ablation; Percutaneous vertebroplasty; Efficacy analysis