Spine physicians swear that inserting a large-gauge needle into fractured vertebrae and injecting a cement compound to stabilize the bone hastens healing and helps relieve the often-crippling pain of compression fractures brought on by osteoporosis or metastatic disease.
But two recently-published, randomized controlled trials -- the gold standard of evidence-based medicine -- say otherwise. As far as disability and pain relief were concerned, they found that vertebroplasty for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures was no better than a sham procedure.
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