Case series have shown that anesthetic or steroid injections alone can reduce vertebral fracture pain, which may explain the improvement in pain scores in both the real and sham-surgery groups in the vertebroplasty trials, he suggested.
There also may be a difference between the two surgeries that produce different results from kyphoplasty or vertebroplasty. Randomized controlled trials comparing the two are underway.
Dr. Bauer has received research funding from Amgen and Novartis.
CT myelogram shows an epidural hematoma and cord compression associated with a vertebral fracture.
Source Courtesy Dr. Victor Jaramillo/Dr. Aravind Pothineni