Background: Balloon kyphoplasty has been commonly performed in patients with osteoporotic vertebral fractures. However, the radiological risk factors of failures after balloon kyphoplasty have been unclear.

Patients and Methods: This study enrolled 72 patients who underwent balloon kyphoplasty for osteoporotic vertebral fractures. Patients who were observed dislodgements of cement or required revision surgery were divided into failure group, whether other patients divided into success group. We evaluated preoperative radiological findings using the lateral view of plain radiographs in both supine and sitting position. The angle between one vertebra above and below the fracture site (local kyphotic angle) and the percentage of anterior vertebral body collapse were measured and the motion between the position of supine and sitting were calculated. These radiological findings were analyzed between failure group and success group.

Results: Twelve of 72 patients were divided into failure group. The motion of local kyphotic angle was significantly smaller in the failure group than success group. While the motion of the percentage of anterior vertebral body collapse was not different between the groups.

Conclusion: The smaller motion of local kyphotic angle may be the radiological risk factor after balloon kyphoplasty.

Study Design: Retrospective study

Objective: We investigated the relationship between the incidence of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH), vascular calcification, and cardiovascular events.

Methods: 400 patients who underwent surgery for cardiovascular diseases and 400 patients who underwent computed tomography scans for noncardiovascular diseases were randomly selected, and the incidence of DISH was investigated. In the noncardiovascular event group, we examined the relationship between the degree of calcification in the coronary arteries and aorta and the incidence of DISH.

Results: We found that the incidence of DISH was higher in patients with cardiovascular events and that patients with DISH had more calcification of the coronary arteries and aorta.

Conclusion: A correlation may exist between DISH and cardiovascular events. This study is important for understanding the pathophysiology and developmental mechanisms of DISH. In addition, these data were obtained from the untreated patients. These data may be useful for the early detection and treatment of untreated cardiovascular diseases.

Condoliase injection treatment is a new option for lumbar disc herniation, regarding which conservative therapy has failed. This study aimed to analyze the underlying factors affecting insufficiency of this treatment. We found that this treatment was effective in 76.9% of the patients. However, it had insufficient effect in less than 25% of patients, especially those with recurrence lumbar disc herniation who had a previous operation for the same level. We recommend careful indication of this treatment for these patients.

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical results of patients who had meniscal repair combined with around knee osteotomy. We retrospectively reviewed 35 knees from 34 patients with medial osteoarthritis accompanied with medial meniscus tear. The patients included 13 men and 21 women, with a median age of 64.7 years and a median follow-up of 23 months. We analyzed meniscal healing status at the time of second look arthroscopy. Furthermore, we evaluated patient background, lower limb aliment, meniscal factors, progression of arthritis, and patient reported outcome measures. Among 35 knees, 11 (31%) showed complete healing, 14 (40%) had incomplete healing, and 10 (29%) failed to heal. Flap tears showed lower healing rate, and no meniscal healing group showed higher rate of progression of cartilage injury. Postoperative patient reported outcome measures showed favorable results regardless of meniscal healing status.