Kyphoplasty

Kyphoplasty treats a painful vertebral compression fracture through a small access pathway. A balloon-like device is used to gently create space within the collapsed vertebral body, and stabilizing bone cement is then placed into that space. The goal is to stabilize the fracture and reduce the pain it is causing.

The procedure is considered for fractures that are recent, that imaging confirms are still actively causing pain, and that have not settled despite appropriate conservative care. It is paired with, never substituted for, the medical evaluation and treatment of underlying bone health, which is what protects the remaining vertebrae.

Appropriate when a recent painful fracture has been confirmed as the pain source, often supported by MRI showing bone marrow swelling matching the painful level, when pain persists and limits function despite appropriate conservative measures, and when the timing within the fracture's healing window is favorable. General health, medications, and bleeding risk are reviewed as part of candidacy.

Most people are up and walking within hours, which is one of the procedure's practical advantages over prolonged rest during fracture healing. Soreness at the small entry point settles over days. Most normal activities resume within days to a week, with lifting restrictions for a short period. Bone-health treatment, fall-prevention review, and appropriate follow-up imaging of the spine are part of recovery, since protecting the remaining vertebrae matters as much as the treated one.

Documented considerations include bleeding and infection at the entry site, cement leakage outside the vertebra, which is common and usually without symptoms but can occasionally matter, nerve injury, reaction to anesthesia or sedation, and an increased likelihood of fracture at an adjacent vertebra, which is why bone-health treatment is integral to the plan. Lack of benefit is possible when the fracture was not the true pain source, which is why careful selection matters.