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Vertebroplasty for painful acute osteoporotic vertebral fractures: recent Medical Journal of Australia editorial is not relevant to the patient group that we treat with vertebroplasty
Author(s) -
Clark William A,
Diamond Terrence H,
McNeil H Patrick,
Gonski Peter N,
Schlaphoff Glen P,
Rouse John C
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03533.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pain relief , percutaneous vertebroplasty , osteoporosis , clinical trial , surgery , physical therapy , vertebral body
We use vertebroplasty for patients with the most severe pain caused by osteoporotic vertebral fractures less than 6 weeks old, and have observed dramatic pain relief in this acute setting. A recent editorial in the Journal, written by the authors of two recent vertebroplasty trials, suggested that vertebroplasty is not an effective therapy for acute osteoporotic vertebral fractures. The trials described in the editorial sampled a very different patient cohort to the one that we treat with vertebroplasty. Our clinical experience and most of the published literature relating to the benefits of vertebroplasty are in striking contrast to the opinions presented in that editorial.