Vertebroplasty
Subproject 4 – Bone Cement Injection for Stabilizing Fractured Vertebrae under MRI Guidance
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in using minimally invasive techniques in spinal surgery as well. Vertebroplasty is a procedure in which special bone cement is injected into a fractured vertebra in order to stabilize it. Injection is done in a minimally invasive fashion by means of a needle inserted through the skin.
The feasibility of bone cement injection under MRI guidance has not yet been established in clinical routine. One obstacle is the instruments currently used for minimally invasive procedures: they are magnetic and cannot be used in an MR scanner. Thus, the aim of this subproject is to identify a new alloy for manufacturing MR-compatible instruments for vertebroplasty. Such an alloy must be both stable and elastic, while also having the imaging properties that are needed for tracking by MRI. Another problem is the bone cement used for vertebral stabilization, which has been optimized for conventional X-ray imaging and does not always stand out from the surrounding structures on MR images. This is why we are also working on a new cement with all the necessary chemical and physical properties. Another aspect of this project is to identify the most suitable position of the patient in the MR scanner for vertebral interventions. This is done by systematic clinical simulations of these interventions.
Illustration of the restoration of the normal height of a fractured vertebra by minimally invasive cement injection
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