Which procedure involves injecting polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) mixed with barium sulfate?

The procedure that involves injecting polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) mixed with barium sulfate is vertebroplasty. In vertebroplasty, this mixture is used to stabilize vertebral compression fractures by filling the fractured space with the PMMA, which hardens and provides structural support to the vertebra. The addition of barium sulfate serves as a radiopaque agent, allowing for better visualization of the cement during imaging studies, ensuring accurate placement and assessment of the injection.

Other procedures, such as balloon kyphoplasty, involve different techniques where a balloon is used to create a space in the vertebra before injecting cement, but they do not typically use this particular combination of materials. Spinal fusion is a surgical procedure aimed at joining two or more vertebrae, and radiofrequency ablation involves using heat to destroy tissue, neither of which involves PMMA and barium sulfate for stabilization purposes. Therefore, vertebroplasty represents a specific use of PMMA in the context of treating vertebral compression fractures effectively.