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US 8,540,771 B2Granted
Prostheses for spine discs having fusion capability
AssigneeUniversity of South Florida
InventorsWesley M. Johnson, Thomas B. Freeman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides both a device and a method. The device is a human made replacement for the soft discs in the spine. A fabric pouch encloses a central hydraulic element made up of small soft beads. Two pouches with beads are implanted into a prepared disc space to function as an intervertebral disc. The method is conversion of the device into a fusion element.
Claims7
A method for the conversion of a spine disc prosthesis device to a fusion device comprising the steps of:
- accessing a patient's intervertebral disc space occupied by a disc prosthesis, the disc prosthesis comprising a plurality of dehydrateable hydraulic beads encompassed within a fabric constraining envelope, the disc prosthesis replacing both an annulus fibrosus and a nucleus pulposus of an intervertebral spinal disc;
- removing at least some of the dehydrateable hydraulic beads from the fabric constraining envelope to vacate a predetermined amount of space therein;
- injecting bone forming materials inside the fabric constraining envelope of the spine disc prosthesis;
- and
- maintaining the patient's spine in a stabilized position.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.