Kyphoplasty, Vertebroplasty, Sacroplasty for Compression Fractures
Compression fractures occur in the spine when bones and vertebrae become soft and weak. Quite often the cause is osteoporosis which is marked by weakened and brittle bones and typically results in height loss and spine curvature. This kind of stress on the bones can cause painful compression fractures and further collapse of the bones. Using minimally invasive image-guided techniques, cement can be inserted directly into the fracture, creating an internal cast. The goal of such a procedure is pain relief.
Treatment
Kyphoplasty / Vertebroplasty
When compression fractures result in significant pain, physicians generally treat this medical condition with kyphoplasty or vertebroplasty. Both are minimally invasive, image-guided procedures that utilize bone cement to create internal casts. KYPHOPLASTY involves the placement of a balloon device into the fractured vertebra, which creates space for the internal cast of cement. VERTEBROPLASTY also utilizes X-ray fluoroscopy guidance, enabling radiologists to inject medical bone cement directly into the injured bone.
Sacroplasty
Sacroplasty is a minimally invasive procedure performed by an Interventional Radiologist using a CT scanner and a fluoroscopy “real-time” imaging to identify a fracture. Once identified, medical cement is injected to create an internal cast for the sacral insufficiency fracture. This procedure will take approximately an hour and is performed as an inpatient or outpatient procedure under local or general anesthesia.
Spinewand
The Spinewand procedure is performed with either vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty and requires either general or local anesthesia. Using the Spinewand targets the lesion, or tumor, directly to eliminate it from the vertebra. The Spinewand creates a very low temperature plasma field to vaporize the tumor, creating a cavity within the vertebral body. The energy from the plasma breaks molecular bonds of the tissue causing molecular dissociation.
Once the cavity has been created, the interventional radiologist fills in the cavity with bone cement to stabilize the vertebra. This creates an internal cast for previously unstable vertebra.
