Last week, an elderly visited the clinic to reveal that she’d been in pain for over two weeks since her fall, after reading the scanning report she’s diagnosed to have bone fracture due to osteoporosis, Dr. Lee Chee Kean then proposed to perform a Vertebroplasty procedure for her and after considering the risk and factors, patient accepted the proposal. The surgery was a great success and the patient felt instant relief after the surgery, she is now on her journey of recovery.

Vertebroplasty is considered a minimally invasive surgical procedure because the procedure is done through a small puncture in the patient’s skin (as opposed to an open incision). Below is the brief explanation how it’s done:

• The patient will undergo a local anesthesia and light sedation
• A biopsy needle is guided into the fractured vertebra under X-ray guidance through a small puncture from the patient’s skin.
• Specially formulated acrylic bone cement is injected directly into the fractured vertebra, filling the spaces within the bone – with the goal of creating a type of internal cast to stabilize the vertebral bone.
• The needle is removed and the cement hardens, congealing the fragments of the fractured vertebra and stabilizing the bone.
• The small skin puncture is to be covered with a bandage

上星期的其中一项手术为椎体形成术，在马来西亚这种手术普遍被称为”打cement“或”打水泥“。对方是一位年老患者，因下半背部疼痛而前来就医，后经诊断发现该痛处出现骨折，而骨折原因则是因为患者患有骨质疏松症。骨质疏松症是一种使骨骼脆弱且容易骨折的疾病，这个疾病没有症状，病患通常在经历第一次的突发性骨折后才会蓦然发现自己患病。由于老奶奶已经疼痛超过两个星期，李志坚医生献议为病患进行椎体形成术，患者权衡风险与好处之后欣然接受建议。

椎体形成术属于微创手术，治疗过程只通过刺穿皮肤进行（而非切开皮肉）。且让我们快速理解一下手术过程：

• 医生会为病患进行局部麻醉
• 医生将在 X-光直播协助下，把活检针通过被刺穿了的皮肤部位导入直达骨折处
• 将丙烯粘固剂注入
• 将针筒移除
• 将刺穿了的皮肤表层贴上胶布

后记：老奶奶手术非常成功，术后频频向李医生表示感激，因为她已经痛了好几个星期，她非常庆幸果断接受并进行了修复手术。

Reference: Spine-Heatlh