Balloon Vertebroplasty: Purpose, Process and Recovery

The term is often used for balloon kyphoplasty. It may be considered for a painful vertebral compression fracture when the pain source is confirmed and non-operative care has not provided adequate function or comfort.

Using image guidance, the clinician passes a narrow instrument into the affected vertebra. An inflatable device forms a cavity and may partly restore the compressed shape. After the device is removed, bone cement is placed into the space and hardens to stabilize the treated bone.

This differs from standard vertebroplasty, where cement is delivered without first creating a cavity with a balloon. Neither approach treats the underlying reason the bone weakened. The wider plan may therefore include evaluation of bone health, fall risk, mobility and any condition that contributed to the fracture.

Before the procedure, provide a complete list of medicines and supplements, allergies, previous reactions to anaesthesia or contrast, and any bleeding or infection concerns. Follow the care team's instructions about eating, drinking and medicines; do not stop a prescribed blood thinner without explicit guidance.

Afterward, follow directions for wound care, lifting, driving and gradual activity. Report new symptoms instead of assuming they are expected. Rehabilitation may focus on safe movement, posture, strength and confidence with daily tasks, while separate treatment addresses fragile bone when relevant.

Contact the treatment team urgently for new or increasing leg weakness, numbness, loss of bladder or bowel control, severe breathing difficulty, chest pain, fever, wound drainage or rapidly worsening back pain. These symptoms need assessment for nerve compression, infection, cement-related problems or another acute cause.

Before treatment, sudden back pain accompanied by leg weakness, saddle-area numbness or bladder or bowel changes also warrants emergency evaluation rather than waiting for a routine procedure appointment.

Ask what confirms that the fracture is responsible for your pain, whether it appears recent or healed, and why balloon augmentation is being proposed instead of continued conservative care or standard vertebroplasty. Discuss cement leakage, infection, bleeding, nerve injury, anaesthesia concerns and the possibility that pain may persist.