Contact

Outpatients appointments
020 3313 5000
Inpatient admissions
020 3312 1715

Visitor Information

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Our vertebral compression fracture clinic at St Mary’s Hospital provides early diagnosis and onward management for patients with a suspected spinal fracture.

The clinic is made up of a multidisciplinary team incorporating the expertise of orthopaedic, neurosurgical, osteoporosis and rehabilitation specialists.

We provide rapid access to appropriate imaging and diagnostic tests, as well as surgery and therapies.

Treatments we offer

If your fracture can be treated with medication and physiotherapy this will be organised. The majority of patients who do not require surgery see an improvement in pain over the first few months following a fracture.

If surgical treatment is required, the risks and benefits will be discussed with you, along with details of what the procedure involves. Patients typically see a very significant improvement in pain in the first few weeks after surgery.

Balloon kyphoplasty surgery

The most common type of surgery for vertebral compression fracture is a procedure known as balloon kyphoplasty.

This involves a small incision being made over the affected bone, and a small balloon being inserted into the bone which is slowly inflated to restore some of the normal bone height.

This is then filled with cement and the balloon is removed. Balloon kyphoplasty usually involves staying in hospital overnight and the procedure has some low surgical complications, which will be discussed with you before proceeding with surgery.

If you have osteoporosis, if necessary we will also arrange for you to be referred to the bone health unit.

Clinics

The vertebral compression fracture clinics are held twice weekly at St Mary’s Hospital in the fracture clinic.

Prior to each clinic we hold a multidisciplinary team meeting to discuss complex fracture cases.

The fracture clinic is located in Salton House (please use the entrance on South Wharf Road).

Address

Fracture clinic
Salton House
St Mary’s Hospital
Praed Street
London W2 1NY

Contact information

Phone: 020 3312 6081

Hours

Tuesday and Friday mornings.

Meet the team

Consultant orthopaedic surgeons

Mr Mohammed Akmal, lead
Mr Reza Mobasheri 

Consultant neurosurgeons

Ms Fiona Arnold
Mr Ahmed Hussain

Consultant neuroradiologists

Dr Olga Kirmi
Dr Elizabeth Dick

Consultant endocrinologists

Dr Jeremy Cox

Consultant orthopaedic surgeon and lead VCF orthopaedic practitioner

Dr Chris McCarthy

Orthopaedic physiotherapy practitioners

Mr Rishi Navsaria
Mr Aldo Russell DeBoer

Osteoporosis nurse

Mrs Patricia Forbes

Patient information

Before your appointment

If you have had a scan at another hospital, we will arrange for these to be transferred to us in time for your appointment. However, if you have a copy of your images please bring these with you.

Remember to also check your appointment letter for anything specific you have been asked to take with you. To help us plan the best treatment for you, please bring to your appointment a list of current medications and your medical conditions. In addition, it would be helpful if you could bring the following:

  • Your full address and telephone number(s)
  • Your appointment card and appointment letter
  • Your GP’s name and address
  • Money to pay for any prescriptions, or an exemption card 
  • A list of questions you may want to ask your consultant

During your appointment

If you have been referred to the clinic with a spinal fracture, at your first appointment it is likely an x-ray will be taken to give us up-to-date images of your spine. Following this, you will be examined by the spinal team’s doctors or spinal physiotherapy practitioners, and we will agree with you a plan for your treatment.

After your appointment

If your fracture can be treated with medication and physiotherapy this will be organised.

If surgical treatment is required, the risks and benefits will be discussed with you, along with details of what the procedure involves.

If surgery is agreed upon, you will return for an operation as soon as possible after your initial appointment. Before this, there may be a need for us to arrange additional scans of your spine. This involves a separate appointment with our radiology department for a CT or MRI scan. These scans will then be looked at by the spinal team, and we will send you an appointment for your surgical treatment within a few days.

You will be reviewed in the fracture clinic a few weeks after your operation and appropriate additional rehabilitation and physiotherapy will be arranged.

Refer to this service

GP

Please use NHS e-Referrals to refer a patient to our vertebral compression fracture clinic service. 

Further online resources