A healthy spine will support the body, providing stability with sitting, standing, walking and lying. It maintains balance for the body in all activities, however when vertebral fractures occur, some of the stability is lost. Bone fractures are painful and require medical attention. Whether treatment is conservative or surgical, your recovery should address the maximum benefit for your lifestyle.
Osteoporosis affects approximately 10 million people each year. Vertebral compression fractures are being diagnosed daily and treatment plans for managing it vary. Understanding the benefits of each treatment enables a patient to make the best healthcare decision. Appreciating a patient’s baseline health is important, as this will influence which care plan should be considered.
Vertebral Compression Fracture is diagnosed when the anterior body of a vertebrae has sustained a break collapsing the body height. When this occurs due to osteoporotic bone, two treatment plans to prevent further collapse may be suggested. Vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty procedures inject a fast setting bone cement to stabilize the collapsing bone. Both procedures require small surgical incisions to create an entry for instrumentation to be guided into the fracture site. Once instrumentation is located into the site, there are two different ways to manage the fracture. The Vertebroplasty concept is to inject the bone cement into the fracture site which stops further collapse but does not attempt to restore any vertebral body height. The Kyphoplasty principle is to place small balloons into the site and slowly inflate them, compressing the osteoporotic bone outward creating a small cave to place the bone cement. While the balloon inflates, the vertebral body can regain height. Achieving as much height correction as possible can help the patient with balance and reduce some of the kyphotic curve to the spine.
The medical debate will continue as to which procedure is most effective. Anatomical correction is a favorable outcome when looking to heal a fracture. Kyphoplasty should be discussed as an option in managing vertebral compression fractures.
