What is Kyphoplasty? Vertebral Compression Fracture Treatment
What is kyphoplasty? We encounter this question often. Kyphoplasty is an elective surgery designed to achieve three main goals in patients suffering from painful vertebral compression fractures:
- Reduce or eliminate back pain
- Prevent further collapse of the fracture, thus avoiding an increase in spinal deformity and progression of postural problems
- Restore normal spinal alignment, thus improving the patient’s posture.
A kyphoplasty procedure is minimally invasive, percutanuous (requires no surgical incision), and can be performed under local or general anesthesia as an inpatient or even outpatient procedure. The duration of the procedure is usually between 30 to 45 minutes. If invasive lower back surgery does not appeal to you, a kyphoplasty procedure may be worth a closer look.
