IR urges moratorium on vertebral compression fracture interventions

(DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING) -- Interventional radiologists should refrain from performing either kyphoplasty or vertebroplasty unless the procedure, intended mostly for the management of pain from vertebral compression fractures, is done in the context of clinical trials. Dr. David F. Kallmes, an interventional radiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, came to this conclusion after analyzing reams of data that nonetheless have been deemed inconclusive. The clinical practice should resume only after results from large, prospective, multicenter trials prove benefits from one or both procedures. Kallmes was the keynote speaker at a musculoskeletal session at the 2009 RSNA meeting. “The one thing we learned that is more important than anything else is that we don’t know what we are doing,” Kallmes said.

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