Back Pain: Vertebral Compression Fractures

• Diagnosis
• Treatment Options

These fractures usually occur in women over the age of 60, but can also occur in younger women and men with weakened bone tissue as a result of medications or osteoporosis.

Approximately 700,000 vertebral, or spinal bone, fractures occur each year — usually in women over the age of 60. Researchers estimate that at least 25 percent of women and a somewhat smaller percentage of men over the age of 50 will suffer one or more spinal fractures. Younger people also suffer these fractures, particularly those whose bones have become fragile due to the long-term use of steroids or other drugs to treat a variety of diseases such as lupus, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.

Of particular concern are spinal fractures caused by a progressive weakening of the bone -- a condition called osteoporosis. The pain and loss of movement that often accompany bone fractures of the spine are perhaps the most feared and debilitating side effects of osteoporosis. For many people with osteoporosis, a spinal fracture means severely limited activity, constant pain and a serious reduction in the quality of their lives.

Vertebral Compression Fractures Diagnosis

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a test that lets your doctor see detailed pictures of the inside of your body. MRI does not use X-Rays. Instead, strong magnets and radio waves work together to form a sharp image. There is no X-Ray radiation and the magnets and radio waves are harmless.      

Computed Tomography (CT)
Computed Tomography (CT) – sometimes called CAT scan – uses special x-ray equipment to obtain image data from different angles around the body, then uses computer processing of the information to show a cross-section of body tissues and organs.

CT imaging is particularly useful because it can show several types of tissue with great clarity, including organs such as the liver, spleen, pancreas and kidneys. Using specialized equipment and expertise to create and interpret CT scans, an experienced radiologist can accurately diagnose many causes of disease. CT of the body is a patient-friendly exam that involves little radiation exposure.

Computed Tomographic (CT) Myelography
A myelogram is a diagnostic x-ray examination of the spinal canal, nerve roots, and spinal cord by injection of contrast solution into the spinal canal. After the myelogram, a CT scan will be done to gather detailed cross-sectional images of your spine. The radiologist will use these CT images and x-rays to make the diagnosis.

Nuclear Medicine Bone Scan
A bone scan is a test where a radiotracer will be injected through an IV into your veins. This tracer is picked up by bone that is inflamed or fractured. The interventional radiologist may use this test to help determine the age and amount of inflammation present in the vertebral body fracture. This test is often used together with the CT scan for vertebroplasty planning if the patient cannot have an MRI.

Treatment Options:

Fractures of the vertebrae have traditionally been much more difficult to manage than broken bones in the hip, wrist or elsewhere. These broken bones can often be successfully treated with surgery. But because surgery on the spine is extremely difficult and risky, it has typically not been used to treat vertebral fractures associated with osteoporosis except as a last resort.

Vertebroplasty

Until recently, reduced activity and pain medications, many of which cause problematic side effects, or invasive (and often unsuccessful) back surgery were virtually the only treatments available. Today, however, there is a safe, non-surgical interventional radiology treatment called vertebroplasty (ver-TEE-bro-plasty) that has been shown to be extremely effective in reducing or eliminating the pain caused by spinal fractures.

The Interventional Radiologists of VIA were the first to perform vertebroplasty in Greater Cincinnati and have the largest experience in the area with the most procedures successfully performed.

Your physician will determine the treatment that best serves you and your condition. If you are a candidate for a minimally invasive Interventional Radiology treatment, your RANK physician may recommend one of several types of treatments.