New Developments in Vertebroplasty Materials

Increasing life expectancy is leading to an increase in age-related diseases, like osteoporosis, which often involve the breakdown of bone. One of the main problems related with such disease is the formation of vertebral compression fractures (VCF). The impact of the vertebral compression fractures that have been described is diverse, such as distortion in the spine (kyphosis), chronic back pain, reduced physical function with risk of immobility, decline of lung function, gastroesophageal reflux and change in appearance that may led to social isolation, loss of self-esteem and depression. Vertebral fracture is just the beginning of the constant deterioration of the health of the affected patients.Until now, the treatments applied in this type of fracture are mainly three: conservative medical treatment, invasive surgical intervention, and vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty. These last two techniques, minimally invasive, have shown interesting results though there is still room for improvement, especially due to the lack of an ideal bone cement material. In this review, we will focus on the recent developments in vertebroplasty, their pros and cons and the needs for further achievements. We therefore begin with a brief description of vertebroplasty followed with a description of the biomechanical and the osteoregeneration needs that materials should fulfill to be useful in this application. Finally, we describe the recent materials developments for vertebroplasty and the different proposals for improvement.