Introduction
Cement injection into acute or subacute vertebral compression fractures has increased in popularity in recent years. There are many anecdotal accounts of bedridden patients being able to walk off the procedure table following such injections. Prospective randomized studies, while hard to design properly and execute, are underway and beginning to be disseminated. Two recent studies in the New England Journal of Medicine have questioned the benefit of vertebroplasty and given reason to re-examine the appropriate indications, safety, and expected outcomes for these cement injection procedures.
I have assembled a group of physicians from radiology, physiatry and spine surgery to discuss these issues in a virtual Round Table format. A summary of the discussion follows.
Scott D. Boden, MD
Moderator
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