Abstract: Objective：To investigate the clinical characteristics of vertebral compression fracture (VCF) in glucocorticosteroidinduced osteoporosis (GIOP) and risk of vertebral refracture after percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) or percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP). Methods:In the study, 570 cases who received PVP or PKP as treatments of VCF from January 2010 to December 2013 were retrospective reviewed, of which 42 were GIOP and 21 were followed up as GIOP group, and the other 528 were primary osteoporosis and 391 were followed up, of which 84  were selected as Control group based on age and gender. The fracture location, ratio of single segment fracture and multiple segments fracture in the two groups were compared. In the final follow up, the reoperation rates for vertebral refractures by the Kaplan-Meier method in the two groups were  compared.Results:The follow up periods were (24.0±13.1) months in GIOP group and (25.8±14.4) months in control group（P>0.05）. In GIOP group, there were 11 cases with onesegment fracture, 2 with two-segments fracture, 3 with three-segments fracture, 2 with four-segments fracture, 2 with five-segments fracture and 1 with eight-segments fracture. In Control group, there were 67 cases with one-segment fracture, 12 with twosegments fracture, 3 with three-segment fracture, and 2 with four-segments fracture. The ratio of single segment fracture in GIOP group was significantly lower than that in Control group（52.4% vs. 79.8%，P=0.01）. There were 50 fracture segments in GIOP group and 109 fracture segments in Control group. The ratios of fracture segments located in thoracic segments（T1-T10）, thoracolumbar segments（T11-L1）and lumbar segments（L2-L5）were 18%, 46% and 36% in GIOP group and 11.9%, 58.7% and 29.4% in Control group（P>0.05）. The refracture rate in GIOP group was higher than that in control group （23.8% vs. 6.0%）. The survival rate was lower in GIOP group than that in control group （P<0.01）. Conclusion: The predilection site of VCF was similar in GIOP and primary osteoporosis (thoracolumbar segments> thoracic segments> lumbar segments). The risk of multiple segments VCF was higher in GIOP than in primary osteoporosis. The risk of vertebral refractures after PVP or PKP was higher in GIOP than in primary osteoporosis.

Key words: Fracture, compression, Vertebroplasty, Kyphoplasty, Osteoporosis, Glucocorticoids