Flexible spinal disc
AssigneeSpineMedica Corporation
InventorDavid Ku
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A medical device and its use are described. The device is useful for replacement or treatment of a diseased or damaged intervertebral spinal disc. The device has volume to occupy space between vertebral bodies, has mechanical elasticity to provide motion between vertebral bodies, and sufficient strength to withstand the forces and loads on the vertebra. The device may have modifications to allow for attachment to the bones of the vertebrae. The device may also contain modifications for ease of placement in the anatomic space between vertebral bodies. The device may be constructed to expand to restore the normal height o the intervertebral space.
Claims20
A method of fabricating an intervertebral disc implant, comprising:
- molding polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) material into a desired intervertebral implant body shape without adding any intrabody reinforcing matrix or material;
- molding at least one sheet of fabric to reside on an outer surface of the PVA material implant body;
- and
- freeze-thaw cycling the molded implant body shape a plurality of times;
- then providing a non-articulating flexible intervertebral solid implant that has a structure that consists only of the molded body with the fabric on the outer surface that allows substantially natural movement based on the molding and freeze-thaw cycling steps, wherein the implant has sufficient flexibility to act substantially as a natural normal spinal disc and to allow at least 10 degrees of rotation between the top and bottom faces with torsions of at least 1 N-m without failing.
A method of fabricating an intervertebral disc implant, comprising:
- molding polyvinyl alcohol material and liquid into a desired intervertebral implant body shape without adding any intrabody reinforcing matrix or material, with at least one sheet of mesh fabric moldably attached to reside on an outer surface of the polyvinyl material implant body;
- and
- freeze-thaw cycling the molded implant body shape a plurality of times;
- then providing a non-articulating solid flexible intervertebral implant that consists only of the molded body with the outer surface of fabric mesh that allows substantially natural movement based on the molding and freeze-thaw cycling steps, wherein the implant has sufficient flexibility to act substantially as a natural normal spinal disc.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.