Bone cement injections
The procedure of injecting bone cement into a lesion is called Subchondroplasty is a minimally-invasive surgery that targets and treats subchondral defects associated with chronic Bone Marrow Lesions (BML), an often-painful defect of the spongy cancellous bone that underlies and supports the cartilage of your joint.
Subchondroplasty is a minimally-invasive surgery that targets and treats subchondral defects associated with chronic Bone Marrow Lesions (BML), an often-painful defect of the spongy cancellous bone that underlies and supports the cartilage of your joint.
But was actually is bone cement and Subchondroplasty and is it safe?
Bone cement is a paste-like substance that once it is injected hardens up, (something like that concrete filler you use for cracks in your patio)
The general idea for this it to use this as a substitute for missing bone but then broken down and eventually replaced by bone. …
The idea is that treating damaged bone (the BML bone marrow lesions) for an example in knee arthritis and osteoarthritis appear to be more effective than just treating the joint.
The cartilage degeneration that occurs when you have arthritis, and osteoarthritis often can be seen on an MRI of the knee may also show a bone marrow lesion (BML).
For years specialists have been helping people by injecting bone cement into these BMLs ( the procedure called a subchondroplasty) in arthritic knees has become a trend.
While I have heard many have achieved fantastic results on this procedure at conferences, seminars and forums. So I sought out to talk to people in my area that also had the procedure done.
We cannot say it’s flawless because some patients had disastrous results after this procedure.
Let’s take a look at this procedure on and give you the information you need to help you decide if it’s worth the risk to have your arthritic knee injected with bone cement.
It is much less invasive than a knee or hip replacement, and typically is performed on an outpatient basis. But it’s not without its flaws.
First off What Is a Bone Marrow Lesion?
A bone marrow lesion can be seen on MRI (usually in arthritis patients ir patients with Osteonecrosis) as either a dark spot or a bright spot (the shade of the spot is determined by the type of MRI sequence) in the bone.
This is known as bone marrow edema (BME) not often a big cause for alarm to most physicians. Although me a patient and advocate I can tell you BME is very painful.
However, patients with BMLs represent weak or damaged bone as well as swelling and that these are associated with the patient’s arthritis.
BMLs are the most common MRI finding associated with pain, so it may be a good idea to treat BMLs as part of a treatment plan for arthritis pain.
But it is not risk free.
Subchondroplasty and Bone Cement Injection
Bone cement is a paste-like substance that once injected hardens up, like cement. The idea is for it to substitute for missing bone but then broken down and eventually replaced by real bone. Bone cement can be exothermic, meaning it heats up once it has cured (though this can damage some local cells), or it can be endothermic, meaning it doesn’t heat up.
BMLs are usually treated with an endothermic cement made of calcium phosphate.
Now I’m certainly no doctor not a specialist is bone cement.
So my personal comments and opinions are my own based on my own limited research and in speaking with a dozen people I know that had this.
The results are both positive and negative
Out of the 12 people I spoke to 9 people 3 men and 6 women age ranged from 36 to 60 years of age.
They all seemed to have a positive outcome and after 2 years seem to be doing well.
However 3 others had poor outcomes all women age range was 34 to 51 years old.
They had many complications, increased pain and regretted the decision to have this procedure.
Some the cement
and others had an allergic reaction to the cement.
Whether it’s an allergy to the synthetic and foreign substance being injected, or an infection, or even damage to the actual bone, or something else, the best thing to take from this is that all procedures come with a risk.
So make sure you get more than 1-2-3 opinions from board certified orthopedic specialists.
Do your own research and really think is this procedure right for me based on the risks vs pain and improvement to your quality of life.
Anyone who tries to sell you on this procedure needs to inform you of the risks.
Ask questions
How many have you done. How many complications came with those procedures.
Give your name and ask the specialist office to maybe allow another patient to call you that had the procedure if you are both comfortable with that.
You deserve all the facts to make the best decision for you.
If you have had this procedure please feel free to briefly comment on your outcome in comments below.
I personally never had this procedure so the information I obtained has been based on talking to patients that have had it and research.
Photo©Debla2019
Special thanks to the men and women I spoke to in Ohio
Abbie, Bernice ,Cathy, Charlotte,Cheryl,Diane,Dina, Joe, Leah,Tammi, Todd,Vince
Wishing you all a pain free day
❤️Deb
Reference and more Information
https://www.arthroscopyjournal.org/article/S0749-8063(17)30468-1/abstract
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