OBJECTIVETo evaluate the cost effectiveness of conservative treatment, percutaneous vertebroplasty(PVP)and percutaneous kyphoplasty(PKP)for elderly osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture(OVCF).

METHODSThe clinical data of 152 patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures, collected in the orthopedic department of 309th Hospital of PLA from October 2013 to July 2014, was retrospectively analyzed. According to the therapeutic methods, the patients who met the inclusion criteria were divided into conservative treatment group (51 cases), percutaneous vertebroplasty group (50 cases) and percutaneous kyphoplasty group(51 cases). The average medical cost (C) in hospital period and 1 year after discharging, and the treatment effect (E) according to standard of "cure" (VAS score less than or equal to 2) or "improvement" (VAS score was 3 to 8) was recorded. Then the C/E value indicated the cost effectiveness in different standards.

RESULTSThe average hospitalization days of the PVP and PKP group was 3 to 5 days with an average of(3.4±0.6) days. The conservative group was 12 to 15 days with an average of (14.0±0.6) days. During the hospitalization period, the cost effectiveness of the conservative group, PVP group and PKP group were RMB 1 253.88, 935.75, 983.99 yuan, respectively, according to the standard of "cure". The PVP group was superior to the PKP group and the latter was superior to the conservative group. If "improvement" was used as the standard of evaluation, the results were RMB 97.80, 449.16, 501.84 yuan, respectively, suggesting that the conservative group was better than the PVP group and the latter was better than the PKP group. After hospital discharge, the cost effectiveness of the conservative group, PVP group and PKP group were RMB 3 834.05, 1 878.41 and 1 916.11 yuan, respectively, according to the standard of "cure". The PVP group was superior to the PKP group and the latter exceeded the conservative group.

CONCLUSIONSThe study showed that the PVP was the best choice at the evaluation criterion of "cure", while taking "improvement" as the evaluation criterion, the conservative treatment was the best one. Either way, the PVP was the best choice after hospital discharge.