Double cement-application cavity containment kyphoplasty: technique description and efficacy.

Kyphoplasty is an effective surgical treatment for the pain and deformity that can accompany vertebral compression fractures. In certain cases, however, defects or clefts in the vertebral body result either from the original fracture or from expansion of inflatable bone tamps (IBTs). Through such a defect, cement may extrude into the epidural space, paraspinal soft tissues, or disc space.

Bone-mounted miniature robotic guidance for pedicle screw and translaminar facet screw placement: part 2--Evaluation of system accuracy.

Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of a novel bone-mounted miniature robotic system for percutaneous placement of pedicle and translaminar facet screws.

Methods: Thirty-five spinal levels in 10 cadavers were instrumented. Each cadaver's entire torso was scanned before the procedure.

Bone-mounted miniature robotic guidance for pedicle screw and translaminar facet screw placement: Part I--Technical development and a test case result.

Objective: To introduce a new miniature robot (SpineAssist; MAZOR Surgical Technologies, Caesarea, Israel) that has been developed and tested as a surgical assistant for accurate percutaneous placement of pedicle screws and translaminar facet screws.

Methods: Virtual projections in three planes-axial, lateral, and anteroposterior-are reconstructed for each vertebra from a preoperative computed tomographic (CT) scan. On a specially designed graphic user interface with proprietary software, the surgeon plans the trajectory of the screws.

Radiographic and histologic findings of vertebral augmentation using polymethylmethacrylate in the primate spine: percutaneous vertebroplasty versus kyphoplasty.

Study Design: Animal study.

Objectives: To investigate the gross behavior and the histologic effect(s) of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) in primate vertebral bodies after percutaneous vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty.

Summary Of Background Data: PMMA is known to induce thermal osteonecrosis in exposed bone during tumor surgery and total joint arthroplasty, and barium sulfate as well as PMMA are known to induce a foreign body reaction, but the effects of PMMA on vertebral cancellous bone have not been well documented.

Histological evaluation of biopsies obtained from vertebral compression fractures: unsuspected myeloma and osteomalacia.

Study Design: A histological evaluation of biopsies obtained from presumed osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (VCF) to confirm possible osteomalacia after tetracycline labeling.

Objective: To describe the results of a series of biopsies obtained at the time of vertebral augmentation in presumed osteoporotic VCF, with special reference to the presence of unmineralized bone (osteomalacia) and occult or unconfirmed plasma cell dyscrasia.

Summary Of Background Data: Vertebral augmentation is now widely performed as a method to treat osteoporotic or osteolytic VCF.

Primary and secondary osteoporosis' incidence of subsequent vertebral compression fractures after kyphoplasty.

Study Design: Retrospective review of prospective database.

Objectives: Define the incidence of adjacent and remote fractures after kyphoplasty vertebral augmentation, and identify vulnerable subpopulations at increased risks.

Summary Of Background Data: Painful osteoporotic compression fractures can be effectively treated with methyl methacrylate vertebral augmentation, but the effect of intervention on the generation of future remote and adjacent fractures has not been identified.

Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty for osteolytic vertebral collapse.

As many as 70% of patients with cancer and multiple myeloma initially present with osteolytic involvement of the spine. These vertebral fractures are associated with significant morbidity and mortality and represent a tremendous personal and societal burden. Traditional medical and surgical options often are inadequate or too invasive for this population debilitated by cancer.