Most vertebral compression fractures are caused by osteoporosis. Osteoporosis weakens bones so that a spine fracture can occur after a fall or even after bending over to tie a shoelace.
Kyphoplasty is a minimally-invasive outpatient procedure for the treatment of vertebral compression fractures. A medical cement is injected into the fractured bone. The cement hardens and stabilizes the fracture.
Most but not all patients benefit from spinal surgery. For those who do not, spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a medically-proven technique for decreasing pain and improving function. When conservative options have failed, SCS can relieve pain from failed back surgery syndrome, post-laminectomy syndrome, lumbar radiculopathy, sciatica, complex regional pain syndrome (also known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy and causalgia) Types I and II, and peripheral neuropathy.
The Vertiflex Superion Interspinous Stabilization and Distraction Device for Spinal Stenosis with Neurogenic Claudication
Spinal stenosis, or narrowing of the spinal canal, causes compression of the spinal cord and spinal nerves. The pressure causes a person to experience pain, weakness, numbness and cramping in the legs or feet when standing or walking.
The medical term for those symptoms is neurogenic claudication. Sitting or bending forward usually relieves the symptoms.
Traditional surgical management (laminectomy) requires removing bone to relieve the narrowing. Newer surgical techniques use implanted devices to stabilize the spine and decrease the stenosis. Placing one of those devices meant that the patient had to go through a standard open surgical procedure.
There is now a new stabilization and distraction device that can be placed without the need for a large surgical incision. Vertiflex, a medical device company, has developed Superion. Patients who have mild to moderate lumbar spinal stenosis and neurogenic claudication are candidates for this new procedure.
