4. Discussion
pain, painful lumbar compression fractures, painful VCFs, ONFH, disability
VERTEBRAL COMPRESSION FRACTURE
This randomized controlled trial aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety of a newly designed vertebral body core decompression technique with those of conventional conservative treatment in patients with painful VCFs. The results indicated that the core decompression group did not demonstrate a significant difference in pain improvement compared with the conservative treatment group. Moreover, there were no significant differences in the measures of disability and quality of life between the two groups. Additionally, no significant differences were observed in the radiological parameters of the study groups at baseline and 3 months.The core decompression technique employed in this study was based on the principles of the widely used core decompression technique for ONFH [A few studies have conducted procedures similar to the core decompression performed in this study, referred to as vertebral body perforation, and have reported favorable results. Ogihara et al. demonstrated that vertebral body perforation provides sufficient pain relief in patients with painful lumbar compression fractures [This study has several limitations. First, we were unable to compare the intraosseous pressure of patients in the conservative treatment and core decompression groups, despite recognizing the importance of intraosseous pressure in the pain reduction effect of core decompression. Second, patients’ knowledge of their treatment assignments may have influenced their responses to the questionnaire. Third, the follow-up period was limited to 3 months. Given that pain and disability resulting from vertebral compression fractures can affect a patient’s quality of life over an extended period, a short follow-up duration may not fully capture the long-term effects.