Bone cement II: At Baptist Hospital, neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Klem uses the same type of bone cement in an operation called kyphoplasty, to repair spinal vertebrae that have deteriorated and collapsed from osteoporosis.

The surgeon inserts a pen-sized instrument through a tiny slit in the skin into the damaged vertebra in the lower back. He uses a surgical balloon inflated to 400 pounds per square inch to reopen the collapsed vertebra to its original height. Then he removes the balloon and injects the bone cement into the gap, making the restoration permanent.

When injected, the bone cement is the consistency of toothpaste; it hardens in the heat of the body.

"There's no healing," Klem says. "When the cement hardens, the repair is complete. The patient can go home immediately."

The operation has been done for about a decade, he says. Before, such deteriorated vertebrae were treated by wearing a back brace or having major surgery to fuse together the vertebrae above and below the damaged one.

"It relieves pain and corrects the deformity," Klem says. "There's no general anesthesia and it obviates the need for a brace."

(c) 2009, The Miami Herald.