The surgeon’s real dose exposure during balloon kyphoplasty procedure and evaluation of the cement delivery system: a prospective study

Balloon kyphoplasty is currently widely used for the treatment of vertebral compression fractures (VCFs). Procedure safety is directly linked to precise radiological imaging generated by various X-ray systems (C-arm, O-arm^®, angiography table, etc.). This minimally invasive spinal surgery is, by definition, associated with significant radiation exposure for both patient and surgeon. Real dose exposure received by the surgeon is usually difficult to precisely record. In our center, all Balloon Kyphoplasty Procedures (BKP) are now performed using an O-arm^® image guidance system to control cement augmentation in VCF. Our preliminary experience described reduced dose exposure compared to C-arm guided procedures. We present here an additional way to considerably reduce the amount of radiation received by the surgeon during BKP using a new injection system.

We prospectively evaluated O-arm^® guided BKP in 20 consecutive patients alternatively allocated to either classic O-arm^® BKP with direct bone filler injection or BKP using a new Cement Delivery System (CDS). Eye, wrist, finger and leg measurements were taken bilaterally and compared between the two groups.

The radiation dose received by the surgeon’s finger, wrist and leg was reduced by greater than 80 % when using the CDS. It allows the surgeon to work way below the most severe annual limit of dose exposure, which may not be the case when using a classical bone filler direct injection mechanism.

We believe that when using this new intraoperative injection system, the surgeon’s overall anatomic exposure is significantly reduced without compromising the critical procedure steps.