Kyphoplasty
Sutter Spine Services
Osteoporosis affects more than 30 million Americans, contributing to more than 500,000 compression fractures per year in the United States. Patients with compression fractures often suffer continuous pain, loss of height, further loss of bone tissue due to inactivity, and complications such as pneumonia and pulmonary embolism caused by their inability to move without pain.
Until recently, treatment for osteoporosis was limited to pain control with medications, bed rest, bracing or spinal surgery. Two revolutionary treatment options called vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty offer new hope by reducing and stabilizing compression fractures. Benefits of these nonsurgical treatments include pain relief and reduction of spinal deformities. Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty require only a small incision and an average hospital stay of one day. Patients are able to return quickly to normal activities and studies show that more than 90 percent experience pain relief.
Kyphoplasty
Surgeons performing kyphoplasty use guided imaging to insert a probe with a small balloon into the vertebra fracture. Once the balloon is placed correctly, the surgeon inflates it to expand the compressed vertebra back to its correct height, which helps straighten the patient's spine. The surgeon then fills the balloon with acrylic bone cement that fills the space and prevents the vertebra from collapsing. The fast-drying acrylic material serves as an internal cast to hold the repaired bone in place.
Are vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty for everyone?
No, they are intended to treat fairly new painful compression fractures, not old non-painful fractures. They are also not intended for relieving pain associated with degenerative disc or joint disease of the spine.
For more information, talk to your physician to find out if any of the above procedures may be helpful to you. For more information about osteoporosis, please see osteoporosis in our health information section. Please note that vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty are recent advances and are not yet discussed in that topic.
For more information on Minimally Invasive Surguries , select one of the following:
