The procedure known as balloon kyphoplasty is commonly done under general anesthesia in an operating room, although kyphoplasty can also be done under a local anesthesia.
In kyphoplasty:
- The patient is positioned face down (prone) on the operating table.
- A balloon catheter, similar to the one used in angioplasty of the heart, is guided into the vertebra using X-ray guidance, and inflated with a liquid under pressure.
- As the balloon inflates, it can help to actively restore the collapse in the vertebra due to the fracture and can also correct abnormal wedging of the broken vertebra.
- Once the balloon is maximally inflated, it is deflated and removed, and the cavity created is filled with thicker bone cement under lower pressure than in a vertebroplasty.
The cement then hardens in place, with the goal of maintaining any correction of collapse and wedging.