Kyphoplasty /
Vertebroplasty

There are two common general approaches to vertebral augmentation, a category of minimally invasive surgical procedures designed to immediately stabilize a vertebral fracture to treat the patient’s pain and prevent progressive spinal deformity.

Both vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures involve the placement of cement into the fractured vertebra through small, minimally invasive incisions in the skin under X-ray guidance using fluoroscopy.

Kyphoplasty

Kyphoplasty is so named because it often involves the attempt to directly reduce the kyphosis that results from vertebral body collapse.

In kyphoplasty, a surgical device or instruments are placed into the broken vertebra and used to reduce the vertebral body collapse towards its original shape. The central void created after removal of the surgical device or instruments is then filled with stabilizing material, leaving the material in place to stabilize the fracture in the improved vertebral shape.

Vertebroplasty

This vertebral augmentation procedure may involve either no manipulation or only external reduction of the fracture by extension, i.e., physical manipulation of the patient when placing the patient on the operating table before the material is injected into the fracture site.

Additional approaches to vertebral augmentation are now available, but vertebroplasty and balloon kyphoplasty are two common procedures and many of the relevant considerations apply to other forms of vertebral augmentation as well.