Spinal Cement Procedures May Be Ineffective

Spinal cement procedures have not been shown to improve a person's back pain or quality of life, according to a new analysis of studies.

Researchers at ECRI (Plymouth Meeting, PA, USA) reviewed 16 studies of percutaneous kyphoplasty, a procedure that fills in fractured vertebrae with injected cement, mostly in osteoporosis patients. The procedure was performed in both the lumbar (lower back) and thoracic (middle back) vertebrae. The analysis found that kyphoplasty did seem to expand areas of collapsed backbone and restore some vertebral height in patients with osteoporosis, but the studies did not offer enough information to precisely measure the magnitude of these improvements.

None of the patients in the 16 studies died as a result of kyphoplasty. Leaking bone cement was the most common side effect of the treatment, occurring in up to 34% of vertebrae. The report was released as an ECRI Health Technology Information Service (HTAIS) in March 2006.

"To the best of our knowledge, we don't believe there is any evidence out there that would suggest kyphoplasty is more effective when used on lumbar or thoracic vertebrae,” said Dr. Stephen Tregear, director of special projects for ECRI. "The lack of studies directly comparing kyphoplasty to more simple treatments such as bed rest prevented us from being able to determine whether percutaneous kyphoplasty improves patients' pain, functional ability, or quality of life.

ECRI (formerly the Emergency Care Research Institute) is a nonprofit health services research agency and a collaborating center of the World Heath Organization (WHO, Geneva, Switzerland). ECRI has locations worldwide and is widely recognized as one of the world's leading independent organizations committed to advancing the quality of healthcare.



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