Vertebroplasty can be performed in an outpatient surgical center, although most patients have the procedure done in a hospital and stay overnight afterwards. In vertebroplasty, a needle about the width of a cocktail straw is inserted through the skin into the fractured bone. A bone cement is injected. The cement hardens, stabilizes the bone and prevents further collapse. This stops the pain caused by bone rubbing against bone.
Some patients experience immediate pain relief after vertebroplasty.
Most report that their pain is gone or significantly better within 48 hours. Many people can resume their normal daily activities immediately. Vertebroplasty is very safe. Although it is a relatively new treatment in the U.S., vertebroplasty has been performed for more than a decade at several centers in France with excellent results. The injection technique also has been successfully used for a number of years in the U.S. to treat other conditions in the spine.