There has been much ado about Kyphoplasty and Vertebroplasty in recent months beginning with the study published by the New England Journal of Medicine. Normally a well respected publication, it has been taking a lot of heat for publishing this report. It appears as though the studies were cut short from the projected number of patients because of a variety of reasons; however, the published findings were that Kyphoplasty and Vertebroplasty offer no benefit over a placebo.
Since then, docs that use these devices and see tremendous improvement in their patients lives as well as the the companies that have developed, tested and now manufacture these devices have published multiple contradicting reports and data.
There have been several articles written and press releases sent out with evidence that these procedures are not only effective but superior in some aspects. The question as we see it is: What do you all think? Is there a continuing place for Kyphoplasty and Vertebroplasty in the spine world? Also, a lot of companies are playing in this Vertebral Compression Fracture space, which technologies do you think have the best chance of cutting a slice out of Medtronic’s pie?
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n my, and others’ opinion, the NJM published study was flawed. I.E. Crossover of patients; enrolled patients that most physicians would NOT have done anything to other than Conservative Medical Mgmt; average amount of cement injected (very low cc of cement); and other “tilted headed/lowered eyebrow” suspicions, etc…
Stabilizing a broken bone or vertebral body just makes sense. There are an extreme number of published articles, papers, journals, studies as well as physicians, patients and family members of patients that support Balloon Kyphoplasty and Vertebroplasty and we have one study critical of VP and everyone wants to discontinue these procedures?!?!
The NJM piece makes for a “great story” and provides insurance carriers with an excuse not to spend money on their paying enrollment of customers otherwise known as patients.
Why don’t you interview physicians that have performed Kyphoplasty/Vertebroplasty over a period of five years and ask them if these procedures work?! A resounding answer of “YES” is what you will find. Why don’t you start gathering all published data that support kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty and compare pros and cons?
Glory and exorbitant recognition be to the individual that thinks he/she has proven that the world is actually flat!!! And, shame of the individuals that accept the findings when obvious conclusions point otherwise.
In my, and others' opinion, the NJM published study was flawed. I.E. Crossover of patients; enrolled patients that most physicians would NOT have done anything to other than Conservative Medical Mgmt; average amount of cement injected (very low cc of cement); and other “tilted headed/lowered eyebrow” suspicions, etc…
Stabilizing a broken bone or vertebral body just makes sense. There are an extreme number of published articles, papers, journals, studies as well as physicians, patients and family members of patients that support Balloon Kyphoplasty and Vertebroplasty and we have one study critical of VP and everyone wants to discontinue these procedures?!?!
The NJM piece makes for a “great story” and provides insurance carriers with an excuse not to spend money on their paying enrollment of customers otherwise known as patients.
Why don't you interview physicians that have performed Kyphoplasty/Vertebroplasty over a period of five years and ask them if these procedures work?! A resounding answer of “YES” is what you will find. Why don't you start gathering all published data that support kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty and compare pros and cons?
Glory and exorbitant recognition be to the individual that thinks he/she has proven that the world is actually flat!!! And, shame of the individuals that willingly accept the findings when obvious conclusions point otherwise.
Kyphoplasty and Vertebroplasty are very legitimate treatments that have been proven over time. Not sure what the NJM was hoping to do, but that study was a sham itself. I would be embarrased to be one of the docs that had my name attached to it.
The only problem is that there are a lot of companies in this space now. For what its worth, DFine seems to be doing things very well. From what I hear, they have worked out the bugs with the system and are currently hiring a direct sales force to go head to head with MDT/Kyphon. Osseon has a lot of buzz also and their product seems to be strong. I have seen SpineWave struggling in my area to get traction and recently interviewed with them.
It will be interesting to see where this market place is in a year from now.