What it is
A needle is passed into the fractured vertebral body, a balloon is inflated to create a cavity and restore some height, and bone cement is injected to stabilize the fracture.
Who it is for
Painful vertebral compression fractures that remain severe despite several weeks of appropriate non-operative treatment, where MRI confirms the fracture is recent and still unhealed. It is also used for painful fractures from tumor. An old, healed fracture will not respond.
How it works
Usually under sedation or light general anesthetic, with the patient face down. Under X-ray guidance, a needle is advanced through the pedicle into the vertebral body. A balloon is inflated to create a cavity, then removed. Thick cement is injected under continuous imaging to fill the cavity and stabilize the bone.
Recovery
Usually home the same day. Pain relief is often rapid. Walking immediately. Most people resume normal daily activity within a few days, with a return to therapy and bone-health treatment alongside.
Risks and alternatives
Cement leaking outside the vertebral body — usually harmless, occasionally compressing a nerve or entering a vein; infection; bleeding; and fracture of an adjacent level afterwards. Alternatives are continued non-operative treatment, vertebroplasty without the balloon, or surgical stabilization where there is instability or neurological involvement.