Question
76 Year old woman (now) who suffered MVA in 1995 with three spinal compression fractures..T-12, L-1 , and L-2.. Condition does not stabilize, suffers another fracture 1999 L-2, 2003 L-1 shatters and 2005 T-11. Patient now has severe kyphosis and scoliosis and has osteoporosis. The accumulated affect of fractures and resulting curvatures have taken a toll on her lung capacity. She has lost over 11 inches in height, cannot breath and is have problems digesting. She is on fosomax and calcium suppliments. She has severe pain and sometimes nerve spasms. Has been taking neurontin ona nd off. (Calcium supplements and Fosomax aggrevate her gdigestive problems now she is on nexium. She needs realignment to enable her to be more upright and satble and thus enable her to breath better, digest better, etc. Can she be evaluated for Kyphoplasty? IF so, how do we go about getting her seen? We are in Philadelphia, PA. She is not a candidate for surgery, obviously.
Answer
Kyphoplasty is a procedure in which a balloon is inflated within a new fractured vertebrae and cement is injected. This relieves the pain and in contrast to vertebroplasty in which cement is injected without the balloon, the height of the vertebrae is restored. This works only in newly fractured vertebrae, otherwise the bone is too hard. I am not aware of a similar procedure for spinal reconstruction, but would seek a referral to an orthopedic spine center to see if there are minimally invasive procedures which would help her.
