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In two randomized trials published last year, vertebroplasty was no better than a sham procedure for pain relief in patients with vertebral fractures (JW Gen Med Aug 5 2009). Critics of those trials claimed, among other things, that the procedure was done too late in the clinical course to be effective. In this new study from the Netherlands and Belgium, 202 patients with vertebral fractures were randomized to either vertebroplasty or conservative management within 6 weeks after pain onset.
At baseline, mean pain scores on a 10-point visual analog scale were about 7.7 in both groups. At 1 month, scores dropped by 5.2 points in the vertebroplasty group and by 2.7 points in the control group — a significant difference. At 1 year, mean scores r…