Spine Surgeons Faulted in Elderly Screenings

THURSDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- In elderly patients, many spine surgeons may be unwilling to perform routine osteoporosis or osteomalacia workups despite the high incidence of these conditions in this population, according to a study published in the July issue of The Spine Journal.

Christian P. Dipaola, M.D., of the University of Rochester in New York, and colleagues submitted a 10-question survey to 133 surgeons who attended the 2007 "Disorders of the Spine" conference in Whistler, Canada, and analyzed the 114 responses.

The researchers found that spinal surgeons often did not routinely aim to use dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans or clinical laboratory tests to evaluate cases in which such diagnoses were prognostically or therapeutically important.

"We sadly agree with their assessment in the Discussion that '...the postoperative medical management of patients' with underlying osteoporosis is quite poor," state the authors of an accompanying editorial. "The undersigned are orthopedic surgeons in an academic setting. Of all places, an elderly patient with a hip, distal radius, or vertebral compression fracture should not leave without appropriate work-up and treatment (at least at the level of starting bisphosphonates). That, however, is still an unfortunate occurrence in many orthopedic centers, even though Orthopedic Surgery resident training includes metabolic disorders of bone."

Authors of the study and editorial reported affiliations with medical companies.

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