Page 29 - BeaufortMemorial

Beaufort area doctors have an inno-vative way to treat certain spinal frac-tures. It’s called balloon kyphoplasty, and it can be done on an outpatient basis. Balloon kyphoplasty is a relatively new minimally invasive procedure designed to treat fractures and restore the vertebra to the correct position.

Treatments for spinal fractures in the past have included extended bed rest, pain medication and back braces, all of which can relieve pain but do not address the deformity caused by the fracture. Open surgery is also an option, but it is more invasive than nonsurgical treatment and is typically reserved for patients with neurological complications.

Osteoporosis, which makes bones frag-ile and easily broken, causes more than 700,000 spinal fractures annually in the U.S. Approximately two-thirds of all spi-nal fractures go undiagnosed or untreat-ed because of the absence of symptoms or difculty determining the cause of symp-toms, leading some to call osteoporosis a silent disease.

Because 50 percent of women and 25 percent of men older than 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime and bone loss can begin as early as age 30, it’s important to know about new options for treating these fractures.

“Tere are advantages to balloon kypho-plasty that make it preferable to vertebro-plasty,” says Interventional Radiologist Andy Jackson, MD. “Both procedures involve injecting a kind of glue to heal the fracture. But balloon kyphoplasty is a bit better in that a balloon is inserted to make room for the glue. As a result, it comes closer to rebuilding the spine to its normal shape.”

Balloon kyphoplasty can be performed on an outpatient basis using either local or general anesthesia. It typically takes about one hour to treat each fracture. On occa-sion, an overnight hospital stay is required. “Most of the patients we treat go home the same day,” Dr. Jackson says. “Te procedure is very similar to other proce-dures we do in the angiography suite, like biopsies. But instead of taking something out, we are putting something in.” Dr. Jackson points out that patients are referred to him and his partner, Eric Billig, MD, for kyphoplasty by orthopedic and spine surgeons, pain specialists, and pri-mary care doctors. Because it is a relatively simple procedure, patients are returned to the referring physician for follow-up. In most cases, Medicare provides cov-erage for balloon kyphoplasty. Other in-surance may also provide coverage. Check with your insurance carrier or doctor to fnd out about coverage.