Osteoporosis

Cement pulmonary embolism a b s t r a c t In recent years, the use of vertebral cementing techniques for vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty has spread for the treatment of pain associated with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. This is also asso-ciated with the increased incidence of complications related with these procedures, the most frequent being originated by leakage of cementation material. Cement can escape into the vertebral venous sys-tem and reach the pulmonary circulation through the azygous system and cava vein, producing a cement embolism. This is a frequent complication, occurring in up to 26 % of patients undergoing vertebroplasty but, since most of the patients have no clinical or hemodynamical repercussion, this event usually goes unnoticed. However, some serious, and even fatal cases, have been reported. We report the case of a 74-year-oldmale patientwho underwent vertebroplasty for persistent pain associatedwith osteoporotic L3 vertebral fracture and who developed a cement leak into the cava vein and right pulmonary artery during the procedure. Although he developed a pulmonary cement embolism, the patient remained asymptomatic and did not present complications during follow-up