title: The extent of diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis in a Veterans Affairs population undergoing vertebral augmentation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether patients with vertebral fracture who underwent an augmentation procedure had pre- or postaugmentation osteoporosis evaluation and treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective chart review.
  
  
  METHODS
  An academic, tertiary Veterans Affairs Medical Center with an active osteoporosis program, easy access to bone density testing by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), few barriers to treatment, and an excellent electronic medical record.
  
  
  METHODS
  After patients who underwent vertebroplasty for a traumatic or pathologic fracture were excluded, 40 patients were identified who had the procedure during a 1.5-year period. Most patients were older white men.
  
  
  METHODS
  Assessment of which patients had evaluation of underlying bone disease (with DEXA and 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels) and whether it was treated (with pharmacologic therapy).
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 75% had a DEXA, but only half had the DEXA before the augmentation procedure. Fifty-five percent had the diagnosis of osteoporosis or osteopenia in the electronic record, and 60% had a serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level usually before the procedure. Those patients who were referred to a metabolic bone clinic were more likely to have diagnostic tests and therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As with hip fracture, low-trauma vertebral fracture treated by an augmentation procedure should lead to osteoporosis evaluation and therapy.
authors.affiliation: VA Central California Health Care System, UCSF-Fresno, Fresno, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Gopi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kasturi
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Adler
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001596:Benzylamines; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs
chemical_list: D001596:Benzylamines; C017951:teclozan