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Kyphoplasty - A Minimally Invasive Approach to the Treatment of Vertebral Compression Fractures.

Last updated Wednesday, February 09, 2005

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About the procedure

What are the technical details of kyphoplasty for vertebral compression fractures? What is actually done?

Kyphoplasty is performed in the operating room usually under a general anesthetic. The procedure requires a patient to be positioned prone (face down) on the operating table and fluoroscopic imaging is utilized by the surgeon to carefully monitor the procedure. The complication rare low, but this is not to state that there are no complications. The most feared complication related to kyphoplasty is creating a neurologic deficit. This may occur through an extravasation of the bone cement into the spinal canal (cement leak). Such a cement leak may occur through the low resistance veins of the vertebral body or through a crack in the bone which has not been appreciated previously. Fortunately, this type of occurrence is very rare. Other complications include; additional adjacent level vertebral fractures, infection, cement embolization, and death. Adjacent level fractures are not actually a direct result of the procedure, but may occur because the stabilized vertebrae are much stronger and the adjacent vertebral levels may remain in a weakened state. These adjacent levels, frequently, may also be treated with kyphoplasty. Cement embolization, on the other hand, occurs by a similar mechanism to a cement leak. The cement may be forced into the low resistance venous system and travel to the lungs or brain resulting in a pulmonary embolism or stroke. The incidence of such devastating complication is, as stated earlier on, very low.

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