BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Differentiating acute benign from neoplastic vertebral compression fractures can pose a problem in differential diagnosis on routine MR sequences, as signal changes can be quite similar. Our purpose was to assess the value of increasing the diffusion weighting of a diffusion-weighted steady-state free precession (SSFP) sequence for differentiating these two types of verte...

................................................................................................................. 1 LIST OF PAPERS ........................................................................................................ 3 ABBREVIATIONS...................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION................................

vii. 55. Lemke DM. Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty for treatment of painful osteoporotic compression fractures. J Am Acad Nur Prac. 2005;

INTRODUCTION Hip fractures are often considered to be one of the most common osteoporotic fractures. In our previous study, we noted the increasing trend in the total number of hip fractures as well as crude and standardized rates, for both women and men. This observation enabled us to delve deeper into the study of osteoporotic fractures. METHODS Hospital records between 1.01.2002 and 31.12....

Colles' fractures (fractures of the distal radius) are extremely common in the elderly. These fractures tend to result in displacement in elderly people because they have osteoporotic bone. Fracture displacement in the elderly, however, does not necessarily result in functional impairment. This review looks at the current literature on distal radius fractures in the elderly and the treatment op...

BACKGROUND This study was to determine the impact on the national healthcare expenditure for the treatment of osteoporosis and fractures if the coverage period for osteoporosis medication was extended from maximum a year to continuous period as required. METHODS Preserving the current reimbursement guidelines, maximum one year's coverage for osteoporosis medication was set as scenario A. Cont...

We report a small cohort of patients with severe osteoporotic fractures treated with vertebroplasty. We note a high prevalence of small, central, intraosseous clefts in these severe fractures. Rather than filling the small amount of residual bone marrow around the periphery of these severe fractures, as suggested by previous authors, we suggest central needle placement to fill these central cle...