Spinal implant
AssigneeGeorge J. Picha
InventorsGeorge J. Picha, Jeffrey A. Goldstein
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Abstract
A spinal implant including a hollow, generally tubular shell having an exterior lateral surface, a leading end, and a trailing end. The shell has a helical thread projecting from its exterior surface. The thread includes a plurality of pillars. Each pillar has a height of 100-4500 microns and a lateral dimension at the widest point of 100-4500 microns. The exterior surface has a plurality of holes therethrough to permit bone growth therethrough. The spinal implant may alternatively have a plurality of pillars projecting from its exterior surface in a regular, non-helical array.
Claims9
A spinal implant comprising a hollow, generally tubular shell having an exterior surface, a first end, and a second end, said shell having a helical thread projecting from said exterior surface, said thread comprising a plurality of pillars, each pillar having a height of between about 100-4500 microns and a dimension in a direction perpendicular to the height of between about 100-4500 microns, so as to facilitate bone ingrowth and mechanical anchoring of said spinal implant and to discourage formation of a fibrous capsule around said spinal implant, said exterior surface having a plurality of holes therethrough to permit bone growth therethrough.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.