• More than 44 million Americans have osteoporosis, 80 percent of whom are women. Osteoporosis is often called the “silent disease,” because it sets in without any symptoms and then a strain, bump or fall causes a bone fracture.1

  • Osteoporosis can cause the spinal bones to collapse. These fractures cause severe back pain, and over time can lead to a loss of height or the development of a hump. Because it has a compression effect on the lungs and internal organs, the fracture often makes it difficult to eat, sleep and walk as well as other serious symptoms.

  • Osteoporosis-related fractures exact a huge toll on patients’ quality of life and the healthcare system, costing our healthcare system more than $18 billion a year – a figure that is expected to grow dramatically as the population ages. Estimates are not available for the cost of osteoporosis in terms of lost work days, productivity and disability.2

  • Novel technologies can now be used to fix broken vertebra and restore patients’ lives. Balloon kyphoplasty is a minimally invasive treatment for spinal fractures which involves inserting two compressed balloons into the vertebral body through a pair of slender tubes. The balloons are inflated with radio-opaque fluid to create a cavity in the vertebral body and restore vertebral body height, and the balloons are deflated, removed and the cavity is filled with bone cement that acts as an “internal cast”, stabilizing the fracture. Patients can be back walking within a day of the procedure.

  • Aside from kyphoplasty, physicians also can choose a similar minimally invasive treatment, called vertebroplasty, to treat vertebral compression fractures. Given the delicate nature of spinal surgery, there are instances where one approach is superior to the other.

  • Studies show that individuals with primary osteoporosis-related compression fractures experienced reduced pain, suffered fewer new vertebral fractures and needed fewer back-pain-related doctors' visits a year after the kyphoplasty procedure.2

  • Kyphoplasty has been shown to provide immediate and sustained improvements in function and mobility for patients and a significant improvement in quality of life.3

  1. Foundation for Osteoporosis Research and Education. “Osteoporosis.” http://www.fore.org/patients/osteo_and_osteo.html (26 May 2006).

  2. Grafe IA, Da Fonseca K, Hillmeier J, et al. "Reduction of pain and fracture incidence after kyphoplasty: 1-year outcomes of a prospective controlled trial of patients with primary osteoporosis." Osteoporosis International. 16(12) (2005): 12.

  3. Ledlie JT, Renfro MB. “Kyphoplasty Treatment of Vertebral Fractures: 2-Year Outcomes Show Sustained Benefits.” Spine 31 (2006):57-64.
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