“Clearly we need to review this data carefully to identify which patients would most benefit, eligible patients are diagnosed quickly and are offered interventions as appropriate.”
As many as 230,000 people in Britain suffer the spinal injury known as a vertical column fracture each year.
It leaves them needing an average 25.8 days in bed as well as suffering long-term pain, decreased lung capacity and physical deformity.
Many are currently only treated with painkillers and bed rest.
But a new study, presented at the spring meeting of the British Geriatric Society, shows for the first time that surgery is a far better option.
A comparison of 410,965 fracture sufferers in America found that those who had surgery had a 74.8 per cent survival rate 24 months later compared with 67.4 per cent in those who were not operated on.
After four years, those who had the operation were much less likely to die from problems associated with the fracture, which can lead to immobility, increased risk of further breaks and loss of appetite.
“In the operated patients there was a significant reduction in mortality (44 per cent), compared to the non-operated VCF patients,” said the study, which was carried out by the consulting firm Exponent, Inc and Medtronic, which pioneered the surgical technique.
Those who had balloon kyphoplasty were more likely to survive than those who had vertebroplasty to stabilise the fracture. In the innovative procedure, surgeons insert two balloons into a fracture and inflate them. The cavity created by the balloons is filled with bone cement to rebuild the spine.