Pain Management – Vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty
Mountain Medical pain management procedures are designed to alleviate pain related primarily to spine and problems, giving patients an attractive alternative to surgery or ongoing pain medication. If you're suffering from pain or headaches caused by bulging or herniated disks or other types of spinal diseases or injuries, including arthritis, we're here to help.
We offer various pain management procedures, most of which involve injections of completely safe medications into the spinal region. These outpatient procedures are performed at our office in 20 to 30 minutes using highly localized anesthesia delivered painlessly, combined with real-time x-ray tracking to allow our physicians to be very precise.
We offer the following pain management procedures:
- Lumbar epidural injections
- Selective nerve root blocks
- Nerve root ablation
- Facet RF (Rhizotomy)
- Lumbar facet injections
- Lumbar puncture spinal tap
- Joint injections
- Vertebroplasty
- Kyphoplasty
- Discograms
Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty are treatment options for patients with pain from spinal compression fractures due to osteoporosis. Where treatments used to consist only of medication, bracing and bed rest, you now have further options available. If your pain is severe and continues for weeks or months despite initial treatment, you may benefit from vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty.
For most patients, vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty provides immediate and lasting relief of the pain related to vertebral compression fractures. With a quick recovery time and a long window of pain relief, the procedures allow many patients to return to their normal activities within a few days and can also, in some cases, prevent further collapse of the vertebra, weight loss and spine curvature.
Percutaneous vertebroplasty is an effective treatment for patients suffering from painful spinal compression fractures commonly associated with osteoporosis, tumors or vertebral hemangomas.
A CT, MRI, x-ray, or bone scan can help to determine whether a patient is a candidate for either procedure. Typically, these individuals are women older than 55 with osteoporosis-induced compression fractures that have not responded to more conservative treatments. Treatments are also available for men with similar fractures and symptoms.
Most insurance policies (including Medicare) will pay for this procedure for those who are diagnosed with vertebral compression fractures.
What you can expect during a vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty:
- These are both an outpatient procedure.
- Uses intravenous sedation and local anesthetic.
- Vertebroplasty involves injecting the bone with a cement mixture to fuse the fragments, strengthen the vertebra and provide pain relief.
- Using image-guidance, a hollow needle called a trocar is passed through the skin into the vertebral body for injection of the cement mixture into the vertebra.
- In kyphoplasty, a balloon is first inserted through the trocar, into the fractured vertebra where it is inflated to create a cavity for cement injection. The balloon is removed prior to injecting cement into the cavity that was created by the balloon.
- Both procedures usually take about 40-60 minutes to complete.
Learn how to prepare for our pain management procedures.
Learn the benefits and risks of our pain management procedures.
