Vertebroplasty

An MR image shows the spine in an elderly patient (A) with advanced osteoporotic fracture due to long-standing corticosteroid treatment. Because of severe intractable pain, the patient was treated successfully at multiple levels by vertebroplasty. A view from another patient (B) shows the large needle (arrowhead) advanced into the vertebral body and the cement (arrow) as it extrudes into the bone. A CT scan in this patient (C) shows the difference between the weakened bone (arrowhead) and the dense cement (arrow).

Vertebroplasty is a relatively new procedure designed to help patients with osteoporosis of the spine. Patients lose mineralization of the bones, making them prone to compression fractures which can be very painful. It has been found that injecting the affected vertebral bodies with a special preparation of orthopedic cement can greatly relieve this pain. Furthermore, those vertebral bodies which are weakened but not yet fractured can be strengthened by injecting this cement, thus preventing future problems. Patients can usually go home from the hospital the next morning.

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