Up to one third of BKP treated cases shows no appreciable height restoration due to loss of both restored height and kyphotic realignment after balloon deflation.
Vertebroplasty, which restores height without any intrinsic mechanical reduction devices (reduction relying on the patient positioning), fails reduction even more frequently [ 26, 31].
After the balloon-assisted stent expansion is sufficient and/or complete, the balloons are deflated and retrieved, leaving both expanded stents behind to keep the restored height.
Both Verlaan and Voggenreiter have demonstrated that part of the restored height is lost when deflating the balloon prior to the cement injection [ 11, 15].
For both treatment strategies, kypho- and vertebroplasty, procedural disadvantages as incomplete fracture reduction or loss of the restored height in the time frame between reduction with balloon deflation and cement application are reported [ 13, 25, 26].
17 The follower load testing technique applies a compressive load along the path that approximates the tangent of the lumbar spine curvature and models resistance (due to fracture consolidation that occurs within the early weeks postfracture) that the force applied by the augmentation procedure to restore height must overcome.
Total disc replacement allows pathological disc removal while maintaining or restoring disc height and preserving motion of the involved segment.
By restoring the "height of the cartilage" we tried to restore stability without the need for ligament procedures [ 3].
The use of anabolic growth factors as therapies to regenerate IVD matrix, hence restoring disc height and thus reversing degenerative disc disease, has been suggested.
Another major concern with using PMMA in ventral discectomy is unsatisfying results in restoring disc height and sagittal alignment [ 1, 7, 8].
