Embargoed for A.M. Release, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2000
For more information, contact: Paula Poda, (847) 384-4034, [email protected]Joanne Swanson, (847) 384-4035, [email protected]
New procedures repair seniors' fragility fractures, "Dowager's hump"
NEW YORK--Orthopaedic surgeons are restoring height and stability to older people's spine by injecting it with bone substitute material to raise recently collapsed vertebrae, Joseph D. Zuckerman, MD, announced here today.
"The procedure, vertebroplasty, is a minimally-invasive treatment option for people whose spine is collapsing due to osteoporosis," said Dr. Zuckerman, chairman, department of orthopaedic surgery and director, orthopaedic surgery residency program, NYU-Hospital for Joint Diseases, New York.
"This provides pain relief to some people with a Dowager's hump if the compression fracture is recent," Dr. Zuckerman said at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' 10th annual Orthopaedics Update. "For the first time, seniors with this condition have an alternative to remaining bent over and immobile."
He said that a small incision is made in the skin and a needle inserted into the collapsed vertebrae. "With a syringe, the orthopaedic surgeon injects a liquid biodegradable bone substitute into the broken bone," said Dr. Zuckerman, who serves as chairman of the Academy's Council on Education. "The material hardens, protecting the site from further collapse.
More than 500,000 age-related compression fractures occur in the U.S. each year. "Aging weakens the quality of bone, which increases fracture risk," said Dr. Zuckerman, noting the number of fractures will substantially increase as the population ages.
"Other procedures to treat fragility fractures include advanced fracture fixation techniques and hip, knee and shoulder replacement," he said. "As we begin the Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2010, these orthopaedic advances enable many seniors to resume activities of daily living following a fracture.
"Bone substitute may help hip fracture patients," Dr. Zuckerman said. "When they undergo hip fracture surgery, injecting bone substitute at the implant site potentially could strengthen the surrounding bone and fixation. Also on the research horizon is the theory that injecting bone substitute into a hip fracture patient's other hip will prevent a future fracture."
An orthopaedic surgeon is a medical doctor with extensive training in the diagnosis and nonsurgical as well as surgical treatment of the musculoskeletal system, including bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves.
The 24,500-member American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons www.aaos.org is a not-for-profit organization that provides education programs for orthopaedic surgeons, allied health professionals and the public and is an advocate for improved patient care.
The Academy is participating in the Bone and Joint Decade (www.bonejointdecade.org), to raise awareness of people's musculoskeletal health care needs.
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