Vertebroplasty not recommended treatment for back pain

Vertebroplasty is no longer recommended as a treatment for back pain.  According to a study by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the practice, which involves injecting bone cement into the spinal vertebrae, is not an advised procedure.  This is a recently developed conclusion based upon current scientific evidence.

The AAOS says it went into the study without any formulated opinions on the procedure.  They went on to say that there decision was based strictly on science.  The Academy reported that the scientific evidence does not support the notion that vertebloplasty does not yield its expected benefits.

The results were based on two clinically controlled tests.  The tests were random and were done by pitting vertebloplasty against a sham procedure.  The results concluded that there were no statistically significant differences in pain between the two processes.

Most vertebloplasty patients are women over the age of 65 who show indications of osteoporosis.  The procedure has been preformed on thousands of these sorts of patients.  It was believed that vertebroplasty would help reduce the pain of small fractures of the spine.

The two independent studies revealed that vertebloplasty is no more effective than placebo.  The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons decided to recommend against the procedure after a thorough review of the studies.

As for patients who have already undergone veretebloplasty, doctors advise that knowledge changes over time and that at the time vertebroplasty was recommended to them it was thought to be an effective procedure with beneficial results.