A new treatment for compression fractures of the spine is easing pain and offering an improved quality of life for many central Ohio patients.Doctors at Ohio State Medical Center are injecting a surgical cement into the bony portion of the spine during a non-surgical procedure called a vertebroplasty. Relief is often instantaneous and many patients can walk out of the hospital after a four-hour stay, said Dr. Eric C Bourekas, an interventional neuroradiologist at the medical center who performs many of the procedures. “Day-to-day living can be very difficult for someone with a compression fracture of the spine. The pain is so intense that even the slightest movements cause extreme pain,” Bourekas said.An estimated 700,000 people a year suffer from compression fractures caused by the weakening of the bones of the spinal column due to osteoporosis or tumors, Bourekas said. The pain can become so severe that sufferers cannot tie their own shoes or move around normally. Over time, the spine weakens and either collapses or curves, causing a hump. It affects many older women who are at high risk for osteoporosis. About 20 percent of women have had a compression fracture of the spine by the age of 70. Bourekas said that while some patients heal on their own, others never do. Until recently, the most effective treatments for these injuries have been pain medications or physical therapy, neither of which provides adequate relief.Vertebroplasty is performed under local anesthetic while the patient remains conscious, Bourekas said. It usually takes an hour if one vertebra is being repaired. Needles are inserted into the patient’s back at the point of the fracture and a quick-setting bone cement is injected into the tiny crack in the vertebra. The hardened cement, which also is used in other procedures such as hip replacements, stabilizes the fracture and virtually eliminates the pain.”We’re finding that more than 90 percent of the people being treated with vertebroplasty get significant or complete relief,” Bourekas said.Dr. Gregory A. Christoforidis, an interventional neuroradiologist who also performs the procedure, said that prior to the injection of the cement, a dye is injected into the damaged vertebra, and a computerized image of the dye filling the void is highlighted on a monitor.”The dye helps us visualize the fracture and indicates to us the exact area where the cement should go,” Christoforidis said.Bourekas said that while the results have been impressive, doctors aren’t sure why it works so well.”We are not sure exactly why the pain goes away. The theory is that it is mechanical stabilization that gets rid of some of the movement that is there,” Bourekas said.