Percutaneous osteoplasty as a treatment for painful malignant bone lesions of the pelvis and femur

The purposes of this report are to describe percutaneous osteoplasty as a highly effective minimally invasive procedure to treat painful malignant bone lesions of the pelvis, ilium, and femur and to discuss the relevant literature. Five patients with histologically proven metastases to the pelvis, ilium, or femur were treated by percutaneous injection of liquid bone cement as an attempt to control severe bone pain. After percutaneous osteoplasty, all five patients experienced immediate and substantial pain relief and did not require pain medication for the duration of follow-up. No clinically significant complications occurred. Whereas percutaneous osteoplasty of the spine (vertebroplasty) is well-described and widely accepted to treat pain caused by benign or malignant vertebral body diseases, osteoplasty of bones outside the spine is less known. The immediate good clinical results observed in our small patient group should encourage more widespread application of this palliative treatment.