Response to: Role of Transpedicular Percutaneous Vertebral Biopsy for Diagnosis of Pathology in Vertebral Compression Fractures

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Asian Spine J. 2017;11(1):163-163
Publication date (electronic) : 2017 February 17
doi : https://doi.org/10.4184/asj.2017.11.1.163
1Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Hardikar Hospital, Pune, India.
2Head of Institutet, Hardikar Hospital, Pune, India.
Corresponding author: Saurabh Shrinivas Pagdal. Academic Department, Hardikar Hospital, University road, Shivajinagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411005, India. Tel: +91-99-7564-1564, Fax: +91-020-2553-5632, saurabhpagdal19@gmail.com
Received 2017 January 13; Accepted 2017 January 16.

We are thankful to everyone who read our article.

Here we have addressed the queries raised.

1. We performed vertebral percutaneous biopsies for all vertebral compression fractures except for those that met our exclusion criteria.

2. In the Indian population, the cost of any procedure matters more than its advantages. Many patients refused vertebroplasty, kyphoplasty, or stabilization.

3. No patients in our series with known malignancies had a benign vertebral lesion based on the histopathological diagnosis.

4. Patients who had a homogenous decrease in the signal on T1-weighted images and increased signal intensity on T2-weighted images with fat suppression in multiple vertebrae showed the presence of multiple myeloma on histopathological diagnosis. We did not find any conclusive association of our findings with other conditions.

5. Out of 69 patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (VCFs), 10 had mild lymphocyte infiltration.

6. We performed vertebral percutaneous biopsies for all patients with vertebral compression fractures except for those who met our exclusion criteria. We also excluded young patients with a significant history of trauma. Patient selection becomes important when trying to avoid inconclusive result. If someone is planning to perform kyphoplasty or vertebroplasty in a VCF patient without any evidence of malignancy, a biopsy should be conducted.

Notes

Conflict of Interest: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

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