More elderly suffering spinal compression fractures: doctor

Citing health statistics, Hung Yu-chang, a neurological surgeon, said that half a million people in the over-64 age group in Taiwan suffer from osteoporosis — a disease characterized by reduced bone density and increased risk of fracture.

Hung added that in Taiwan, 30 percent of women over 64 years of age are affected by osteoporosis, and that one in every four people in that age group have suffered an osteoporotic compression fracture of the spine.

According to Hung, NCK University Hospital has been treating about 19 such cases per year, with the patients ranging from 42 to 108 years of age. The treatment method used by the hospital is called vertebroplasty — a procedure that stabilizes the spinal compression fracture by injecting bone cement into the damaged vertebra.

The method was developed by interventional neuroradiologists in France in 1987, but the earliest procedures were performed through open back surgery.

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