Cement Augmentation for Osteoporotic Spinal Fractures

Yes, we do use intraoperative neuromonitoring — we are one of the very few centres in the country who have been using this quite regularly. We were focusing on minimally invasive spine surgery and spine navigation in this talk because of limited time, but yes, we do have neuromonitoring available to us as well.

Yes, we have specialist spine surgeons and pediatric surgeons also, and I myself do a lot of spine surgery in children — whether they have neural tube defects such as meningocele, Chiari malformation, or tethering of the spinal cord which can cause weakness of the legs. In all those patients we do spine surgeries, also in children who've got scoliosis or hemivertebra deformities, or tumours of the spine. All those patients we have been tackling from the age of 6 months to 18 years of age.

The cost of surgery in our hospital for spinal problems can range anything from $3,500 for a discectomy and decompression to $5,500 or $6,000 for fixation of the spine at one level, and even up to $10,000 for more complicated cases — that's usually the range of costs patients most commonly have to bear. Most of these patients, who come walking because of pain in the neck, arm, or lower back going into the legs, usually stay in the hospital for about three to four days, and in the country for about two weeks.

Osteoporosis weakens bone, and standard screws can loosen in fragile vertebrae, which historically made surgery riskier and less effective for these patients.

Cement injected through the screws strengthens weakened bone from within, allowing the screws to hold securely even in fragile, osteoporotic vertebrae.

Dr. Rajan describes an elderly patient treated with a minimally invasive cement injection technique who was able to walk the very next day after surgery.

No. Cement augmentation combined with keyhole techniques allows these fractures to be treated with less trauma and a faster recovery than traditional open surgery.