December 2009

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On a Monday night in October, 55-year-old Ralph was on a ladder cleaning out roof gutters. The ladder slid out from underneath him and he fell, landing on his back on the steps of the nearby deck.

“It was very painful,” Ralph recalls. “I couldn't walk. I couldn’t even sit. The only thing that made the pain somewhat tolerable is if I were lying down. I felt every bump in the road on the way to the hospital.”

Diagnosis: Compression fractures

“In the emergency room, they took x-rays and told me, ‘You broke your back,’” says Ralph. ‘They admitted me to the hospital and took me for an MRI the next morning. The next day, I was scheduled for surgery with Dr. Robert Berkowitz.”

“Ralph had compression fractures—breaks in the bones of the spine that cause them to collapse,” explains Dr. Berkowitz, a spine specialist with advanced training in back and neck surgery.

Kyphoplasty heals compression fractures

Dr. Berkowitz treated Ralph's compression fractures with kyphoplasty, a minimally invasive surgical procedure that restores crushed vertebrae and relieves pain.

“When I saw Dr. Berkowitz before my surgery, he told me, ‘When you come out of surgery, what is hurting you now will not hurt anymore,’” Ralph recalls. “He was right—thank God!”

“Kyphoplasty is done through two tiny incisions,” says Dr. Berkowitz. “I insert a special needle into the crushed vertebra. This needle has a tiny balloon, which I inflate to ‘puff’ the bone back up again. Then I deflate the balloon, pull it out of the bone and fill the hole I just made with cement.”

Ralph had kyphoplasty on Wednesday afternoon, went home that night and was back at work on Friday. “There was no pain,” he says. “I still had a few bumps and bruises from the fall, but as far as the surgery goes, that pain was totally gone.”

‘I was happy with the surgery’

Ralph is back to leading an active life. “I saw Dr. Berkowitz again about a week and a half after my surgery,” he recalls. “Dr. Berkowitz took an x-ray, showed me everything was looking good, and said I could go back to my normal activities.

“I said, ‘I don't think I'm going to do that because it seems that lately, my normal duties include falling off ladders,’” Ralph laughs.

“I asked Dr. Berkowitz if the extra weight in my vertebrae would take the slice out of my golf swing,” Ralph adds. ‘I'm hoping! We'll see in the spring.”

Robert Berkowitz, MD

I have spinal compression fractures caused by osteoporosis. Can kyphoplasty help me?

Yes. kyphoplasty can repair compression fractures due to osteoporosis. But although kyphoplasty restores the normal height of an injured vertebra, its primary purpose is to relieve excruciating pain. Lots of people have compression fractures, but they don't all hurt.

For an appointment, call 440.329.2800.

Center for Orthopedics-Sheffield to become an outpatient department
of EMH Regional Medical Center

Effective Jan. 4, 2010, the Center for Orthopedics (CFO) Sheffield Village office will become an outpatient department of EMH Regional Medical Center. This arrangement will result in a change in the way you are billed for our services.

Facility and physician fees billed separately

As of Jan. 4, the services you receive from CFO will result in two separate bills:

1. CFO will bill you for physician professional services. When you visit our offices, a specially trained physician will review your case and/or see you personally. Our doctor will then communicate pertinent information to your referring physician. CFO will submit a bill separate from the one you receive from EMH Regional Medical Center. If your insurance has an outpatient deductible, it will apply to this service.

2. EMH will bill you for technical services. EMH provides the administrative staff, medical assistants, x-ray technicians, cast technicians, equipment, supplies and other resources involved in the service we provide you. If your insurance has an outpatient deductible, it will apply to this service.

Because we are now a hospital outpatient department and no longer a physician office, your insurance coverage will likely fall under outpatient benefits in your policy handbook. Depending on your insurance plan, instead of an office co-payment amount, you may be responsible for paying a deductible or percentage of coinsurance for the services you receive.

Questions? Call 440.329.7559