Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission
Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
Click the orange button to the right to learn more about what you can start doing today.
How does SpineJack for compression in myeloma differ from vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty? Which is better? What are the possible side effects?
I often tell MM patients how much MM management has improved since my diagnosis in 1994.Therapies of course, but also diagnostic testing for MM as well as managing bone involvement. Particularly bone involvement of the spine.
If your MM has caused either broken vertebra in your spine or if one of your vertebra has compressed, you should talk to your oncologist about three different possible therapies-
vertebroplasty-
kyphoplasty-
spine jack procedure-
While I have not had any of these procedures on my spine, I believe that they each have pros and cons or strengths and weaknesses. And your oncologist can help you figure out how your specific symptoms can best be addressed by which therapy.
Vertebroplasty vs Kyphoplasty vs Spine Jack: What’s best for a fixing a broken or compressed bone in your back?
All therapies have possible side effects. Your task is to figure out all possible side effects and determine which may apply to you and then how serious your risks are. According to ChatGPT, possible side effects of the above mention spine procedures are:
Possible Side Effects and Complications:
1. Cement Leakage (Most Common)
In vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty, bone cement (polymethyl methacrylate or PMMA) is injected into the vertebra. This can sometimes leak outside the vertebra, leading to:
Compression or irritation of nearby nerves, causing pain or numbness.
Spinal cord compression (in rare cases), leading to neurological deficits.
Leakage into blood vessels, potentially causing pulmonary embolism, stroke, or other vascular complications.
SpineJack Procedure: Uses an expandable implant to restore height before cement injection, theoretically reducing cement leakage risk compared to vertebroplasty.
2. Infection (Osteomyelitis or Discitis)
Though rare, infection can develop at the surgical site, potentially leading to bone or spinal infections.
3. Fracture of Adjacent Vertebrae
The increased stiffness of the treated vertebra may lead to fractures in nearby vertebrae, especially in patients with severe bone loss due to multiple myeloma.
4. Pain Persistence or Worsening
Some patients may experience ongoing or new pain after the procedure, potentially due to:
Incomplete fracture stabilization.
Cement leakage causing irritation.
Fractures at adjacent levels.
5. Neurological Complications
Rare but serious risks include nerve damage, leading to:
Radiculopathy (nerve pain radiating to limbs).
Paralysis or weakness if the spinal cord is affected.
6. Systemic Reactions to Cement
Some patients experience allergic or inflammatory reactions to bone cement, which may cause:
Fever, chills, or fatigue.
Blood pressure changes.
Respiratory issues (rare but serious).
7. Bleeding or Hematoma Formation
Patients with multiple myeloma may have clotting issues or be on blood thinners, increasing the risk of bleeding around the spine.
Considerations for Myeloma Patients:
Bone fragility: Myeloma-related bone disease makes fractures and adjacent vertebral fractures more likely.
Infection risk: Myeloma and its treatments can weaken the immune system, increasing infection risk.
Pre-existing nerve compression: Myeloma lesions may already be compressing nerves, making neurological complications more concerning.
While discussing these spine procedures, I should mention pain management. While the three procedures above should almost or fully eliminate your back pain, I have to believe that you are currently in pain or may have some spine pain even if the procedure above is successful.
To retrospectively evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of vertebroplasty using Spinejack implantation for the treatment and stabilization of painful vertebral compression fractures, in patients diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (MM), to allow both an effective pain reduction and a global structural spine stabilization.
Materials and Methods
From July 2017 and May 2022 thirty-nine patients diagnosed MM, with forty-nine vertebral compression fractures underwent percutaneous Vertebroplasty using Spinejack Implants. We analyzed the feasibility and complications of the procedure, the decrease in pain using visual analogue scale (VAS) and Functional Mobility Scale (FMS).
Results
The technical success rate was 100%. No procedure-related major complications or death occurred. In the 6-month follow-up, the mean VAS score decreased from 5.4 ± 1.0 to 0.2 ± 0.5 with a mean reduction of 96.3%. FMS decreased from 2.3 ± 0.5 vs. 1.2 ± 0.4 with a mean reduction of −47.8%. There were no major complications related to incorrect positioning of the Expandable Titanium SpineJack Implants. In five patients, a cement leak was observed with no associated clinical manifestations. The average length of hospital stay was 6–8 Hours6.6 ± 1.2 h. No new bone fractures or local disease recurrence occurred during a median contrast-enhanced CT follow-up of 6 months.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that vertebroplasty, using Spinejack implantation for the treatment and stabilization of painful vertebral compression fractures, secondary to Multiple Myeloma is a safe and effective procedure with long – term pain relief and restoration of vertebral height.
Other potential complications associated with SpineJack include bleeding, nerve injury, and device failure. However, these complications are rare and can usually be managed through appropriate monitoring and intervention (23–29)…
Conclusions
This preliminary study highlights that the use of bilateral expandable titanium SpineJack implants, followed by vertebroplasty, is a safe and effective procedure for the treatment of vertebral fracture from pathological compression secondary to MM, allowing an adequate restoration of the vertebral height and a correct distribution of the craniocaudal load forces on the vertebral column.
We observed a rapid and persistent improvement from the pain, resulting in a rapid improvement in the patient’s mobility and ambulation.
SpineJack for compression in myeloma SpineJack for compression in myeloma
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2 comments
Steve romanelli says
last week
had kyphoplasty done approx one month ago,one vertebrae was over 505 crushed,took pain away from that area,one month later still have back discomfort but seems higher in back,ive been doing some things that probably aggrevate my back,climbing on a roof today,working on a car etc,hoping it clears more in next couple of weeks
