Osteoporosis treatment questioned
Posted
by DPS
A new Australian study reported on the ABC AM radio program, claims that a common osteoporosis treatment is no better than a sham procedure.
At a price of about $3,000 a treatment, bone cement is injected into broken vertebrae in almost 700 patients each year. The treatment, called percutaneous vertebroplasty, was listed on the Medicare Benefits Scheme in late 2005.
In what is described as a world-first study, the Monash University and the Cabrini Research Institute in Melbourne gave 38 patients the procedure and 40 patients a sham treatment.
After six months, researchers found that both sets of patients had improved by the same degree.
