Osteoporosis causes a vertebral compression fracture (VCF) every 45 seconds, each year condemning millions of Americans to a life of discomfort.

But that doesn’t have to be the case, says Kevin A. Vaught, M.D., a neurosurgeon on the medical staff at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Vaught, who is a partner with Scott R. Gibbs, M.D., at the Brain & NeuroSpine Clinic in Cape Girardeau, is among a handful of surgeons in Missouri to use a minimally invasive device designed to help treat spine fractures caused by osteoporosis.

That device, the KyphX Xpander® Bone Tamp, is now being used at Southeast’s Regional Brain and Spine Center.

Vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) occur when the thick block of bone at the front of the vertebra in the spine collapses, causing the spine to shorten and fall forward, Vaught explains.

Called kyphosis or “Dowager’s Hump,” this spinal deformity is often seen in the elderly.

Vaught says 83 percent of all fractures are caused by osteoporosis, a disease characterized by low bone mass and structural changes causing bones to become fragile and easily broken. “In people with osteoporosis, even sitting down on a chair hard or having a sneezing spell can cause a fracture,” he notes.

Left untreated, VCF can have serious long-term consequences, including chronic, debilitating pain, decreased pulmonary function and increased lung disorders, sleep disorders and impaired physical function and decreased quality of life because of the spinal deformity.

Because conventional surgical methods to correct VCFs generally are too invasive for a geriatric population, patients had little choice but to rely on a brace and pain medication for a degree of relief.

Kyphoplasty using the KyphX® Xpander Inflatable Bone Tamp is a minimally-invasive procedure that has a very high success rate with very few side effects. It is used in patients with acute and sub-acute fractures up to six months old,”

Vaught explains,“The procedure takes about an hour, and the patient is generally hospitalized less than 24 hours. There are two small incisions, less than a half-inch.”

“There’s just no reason for the suffering,” he adds. “When you see a patient come in who can’t roll side to side in bed without pain and you see that same patient roll side to side with no pain immediately after the operation, it’s a very rewarding feeling."

Learn more about Osteoporsis and the physical impact of VCR