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Vertebroplasty is injection of polymethylmethacrylate “cement” into a fractured vertebral body to reduce pain and disability. The popularity of this procedure declined after 2009, when two randomized, sham-controlled trials showed no benefit (NEJM JW Gen Med Sep 1 2009 and N Engl J Med 2009; 361:569 and 557). However, patients in those two trials were enrolled an average of 9 and 18 weeks, respectively, after pain onset, which raises the following question: Would patients benefit if they were treated earlier?
To address this question, Australian investigators conducted another randomized trial that involved 120 patients (mean age, 80) with vertebral fractures (61% of vertebral fractures were in “thoracolumbar” segments [T11 through L2]), pai…