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In 2009, two randomized trials showed that vertebroplasty — injection of cement into a vertebral compression fracture — was no better than a sham procedure in relieving pain caused by vertebral fractures (JW Gen Med Aug 5 2009). Did these reports lead to a decrease in the number of vertebroplasties performed annually? In this study, researchers used a U.S. Medicare claims database to track the annual volume of vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty (inflation of a balloon to restore vertebral height before injection of cement).
Between the years 2001 and 2009, the annual volume of vertebroplasties in Medicare recipients increased steadily from about 14,000 to 30,000. But in 2010, the year after the aforementioned negative trials were published, the …