Improved Bone Cement Proffers Better Vertebroplasty Results

High viscosity bone cement has been developed for use in treating vertebral compression fractures (VCFs).

VertaPlex HV is indicated for use with percutaneous vertebroplasty and vertebral augmentation, providing flexibility and individualized patient care. The cement achieves a thick viscosity as soon as it is mixed, eliminating waiting time, and maintains this viscous state for an average of 18 minutes or longer, thus offering both and immediate and prolonged working time. Additionally, the thick viscosity helps contribute to a controlled fill that interdigitates with the trabecular bone. Other benefits of the new cement include a fast set time at simulated in vivo temperature (approximately 10.2 minutes at 37 ºC), a lower creep rate to help reduce risk of leakage, and a 30% barium sulfate concentration to provide greater visibility in radiology images. VertaPlex HV is a product of Stryker Interventional Spine (Kalamazoo, MI, USA).

"VertaPlex HV is the newest of three bone cements offered by Stryker to satisfy a variety of physician cement preferences,” said David Veino, director of sales and marketing for Stryker Interventional Spine. "We developed VertaPlex HV to provide physicians with the highest viscosity, longest working time, and shortest mixing time of any of our cement offerings.”

VCFs occur when the vertebrae collapse within themselves and become compressed. These fractures usually occur in bones affected by osteoporosis, and thus can result from very slight force, such as turning, bending, or even standing; sometimes they occur for no apparent reason. People with many large VCFs can lose height, and the back may become rounded and bent, a condition called kyphosis. Rarely, VCFs damage the spinal cord or spinal nerves; in such cases, symptoms include weakness in the leg, numbness, paralysis, and fecal or urinary incontinence. Vertebroplasty and vertebral augmentation (also known as balloon kyphoplasty) are minimally invasive procedures widely used to treat the intense pain caused by VCFs; both involve injecting bone cement into the vertebral body to create an internal cast that stabilizes the fracture, thereby reducing pain.

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